—— enna , _ ® This is a reproduction of a book from the McGill University Library collection. Title: A commentary upon the Old and New Testaments, with the Apocrypha Author: Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707 Publisher, year: London : Printed for Samuel Bagster, 1809 The pages were digitized as they were. The original book may have contained pages with poor print. Marks, notations, and other marginalia present in the original volume may also appear. For wider or heavier books, a slight curvature to the text on the inside of pages may be noticeable. ISBN of reproduction: 978-1-926846-14-9 This reproduction is intended for personal use only, and may not be reproduced, re-published, or re- distributed commercially. For further information on permission regarding the use of this reproduction contact McGill University Library. McGill University Library www.mcegill.ca/library wil ern he ee Lee — "2 ‘a Ga Sg Ne =~ 5 ats A COMMENTARY OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, APOCRYPHA. GENESIS TO CANTICLES By SYMON PATRICK, D. D. Biswop or Err; THE PROPHETS By WILLIAM LOWTH, B.D. Preesenvary or WINCHESTER; THE APOCRYPHA By RICHARD ARNALD, B.D. Recror or Tuurcaston, LEICESTERSHIRE} THE NEW TESTAMENT By DANIEL WHITBY, D. D. Cuyanrer or Satissury CATHEDRAL. Jn Seven Uolumes. VOL. V. A Pew Edition, Webised and Corrected, LONDON: PRINTED FOR SAMUEL BAGSTER, IN THE STRAND, BY JAMES MOYES, SHOE LANE, 1809. A COMMENTARY ON SUCH BOOKS OF THE APOCRYPHA AS ARE APPOINTED TO BE READ IN CHURCHES: ENTITLED WISDOM, ECCLESIASTICUS, TOBIT, JUDITH. BARUCH, HISTORY OF SUSANNA, HISTORY OF BEL AND THE DRAGON. WITH Xwo Dissertations ON THE BOOKS OF S;ACCABEES AND ESDRAS. BY RICHARD ARNALD, B.D. RECTOR OF THURCASTON, LEICESTERSHIRE. A New Edition, Webised and Corrected, LONDON: PRINTED FOR SAMUEL BAGSTER, IN THE STRAND. 1809. TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, THOMAS, BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE, LORD ARCH-BISHOP OF YORK, PRIMATE OF ENGLAND AXD METROPOLITAN, AND ONG OF WIS MAJESTY’s MOST NONOURABLE PRIVY-COUNCIL. May IT PLEASE your Grace, a accept the following sheets, which are formed upon the plan of Bishop ParricK and Mr Lowru, as an appendix to, and continuation of their useful design. Iam far from thinking that I am engaged in a work equal to the nature of their subject, nor can I flatter myself with any hopes that this performance, with its many defects, will meet with the like favourable acceptance. I was encouraged to pursue this design, from the many excellent things which are spoken of The Book of Wisdom -by the fathers, and most early writers; and as our church has given a sort of sanction to its usefulness, by allowing it, in conformity to ancient custom, to be read in her public service, I hope this consideration will justify the present attempt, and apologize, in some measure, for my presumption in offering to your Grace an Apocryphal book, and placing it under the protection of your. great name ; especially, as I consider the uncanonical books upon the footing only of such primitive ecclesiastical writings, as many prelates, of the first eminence in the re- public of letters, have not thought it beneath them to employ their learned labours about. Was I permitted to cbserve the common practice in addresses of this kind, and to speak in the language of modern complaisance, the.world might expect that I should dwell upon all those great qualities in which your Grace excels ; but I shall only beg leave to observe, that your rising merit early drew the eyes of a very discerning and learned prelate * upon you; and when, through age and infirmities, he was at length hindered from labouring in the word and doctrine, hke David stricken in years, he transferred his charge upon no less able a successor, and the same great accomplish- ments reviving in your Grace, made the loss less sensible and regretted; and equally endeared you to the same learned society, and to that illustrious name in particular, which now fills the highest station in the law with the most consummate abilities. And as if a double portion of the spirit of that Elijah rested upon you, in you we ad- mire the same justness o sentiments, clearness of expression, beauty of language, and * Bishop Fleetwood. A il DEDICATION. well conducted zeal. In you we trace his.affectionate manner, sweet: elocution, just action, and those other moving graces of the preacher, which command the passions, and charm the attention, so that being dead he yet. speaketh.. Nor are you, my Lord, less distinguished by an-affable and obliging temper, which: shines forth, and is displayed in that easiness of access and: condescending goodness, which endear you to the love and esteem. of all, and must render you particularly amiable to that province, over which, by the designation of Providence, you preside: with so general an applause. As these great qualities, at length, conducted you-so deservedly to the episcopate,. so your speedy advancement, as it were from glory to glory, to the present high station. which you fill, is an instance of your superior merit, and consummate modesty ; both of which illustriously stand confessed,. as. you neither asked nor solicited this. eminence ; it rather sought you out, and seemed to court you, so that I may justly draw the parallel between you and some celebrated names of antiquity, whose ambition. was retirement, and their preferment a sort of violence. What the historian says of that great general, Enaminondas, is truly applicable to your Grace, ‘“ That he never: “‘ made any interest for preferment, but. was courted to accept it, and often forced into “ it; and he alwavs discharged his trust in such a.manner, as to do greater honour to “* his station than he received from it *.” I could enlarge, with equal pleasure and truth, upon: so copious and inviting an. accasion,; but, to say more, would, I fear, give offence to your Grace, and to say less would have been.the highest injustice in me; nor should an. eloquence less than. your own attempt. to display yous character. That your Grace may long preside over the church, under the happy conduct: and blessing of that Wisdom, in whose right-hand is length of. days, is the sincere prayer, of, , My Lord;. Your Giace’s most Obedient, . and Dutiful Servant; . THyvrcasTony April 4. 1744. } RICHARD ARNALD; * Recusanti omnia imperia ingesta sunt ; Honoresque ita gessit, ut Ornamentum non accipere, sed dare ipsi« Dignitati videretur. Justin. lib. vi. c. 8 - THE AUTHOR’S PREFACE, HERE have been so many excellent Commentaries published upon the Holy Scriptures, and every one of the sacred books have been illustrated by the labours of so many learn- ed and judicious persons, that it may be presumed nothing has escaped their enquiry, or seems necessary now to be added to their discoveries: But the Apocrypha! Books, though they are placed next to the Canonical ones in the same common volume, and have some of them been esteemed, even by many Protestant writers, as second only to thei for the useful- ness of the matter and variety of instructions contained in them (see Sparrow’s Raticnale, p. 41. Raynol. Cens. Libr. Apocr. Pral..vii. Ixxiv. Wheatley on the Common-Prayer, p. 140. Chemnit. de Script. Canon. Par. I. Falkener’s Libert. Eccles. p. 160. Cosin’s Schiot. Hist. p. §.) have hitherto received, though they confessedly stand in great need of light and illustration, very little help and advantage of this nature. The following Commentary therefore upon the Book of Wisdom, which the ancients had in so great esteem, and cur church has thought not unworthy to be read in her public service, will, 1 flatter myself, be the more favourably received, and appear the more necessary, as there is no comment upon this, or indeed any of the Apocryphal writings extant, that | know of, in our language; and such as have written upon it in other languages, being generally Popish expositors, have per- verted many passages to countenance their favourite Opinions, which I have occasionally ta- ken notice of in the course of this work, to prevent any mischief from such an abuse. That there are some exceptionable places in the book itself | do not deny ; and what bock merely human is entirely without them ? Nor because I have undertaken the illustration of it, shall I be so disingenuous as to patronize, or even palliate its errors, much less cry it up as all perfection ; and therefore, as I -shall neither, with the Remanists, pretend that it is canonical, and to be put upon the same level with the inspired writings, against which opinion there are unsurmountable difficulties, both internal and external, so neither can I persuade myself, with too many Protestants, to decry it as useless and of no authority, for no other reason pro- bably, bat because the Church of Rome has paid too great a deference to this, and other writ- ings confessedly Apocry phal, which £ cannot think are all of them of equal value, but that the Diductical Books, as they are called, viz. Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, claim abundantly the preference, as in fact they are universally well spoken of and esteemed, and, I believe, have as many admirers, as they have readers, and may therefore, I hope, without any imputation or reflection, be as laudably commented upon, as any of the primitive ecclesiastical writings. The Book of Wisdom in particular, to which the following sheets only relate, especially that part of it which refers to God’s dealing with the Egyptians, is an epitome of the history of Exo- dus; it abounds with useful sentiments and instructive morals; we see in it repeated proofs of God’s patience and long-suffering towards sinners, of his mercy and loving- kindness to his faithful servants, especially in their distress, and many lively instances of his justice and severity upon obstinate and irreclaimable transgressors: Such are the fol- lowing memorable events recorded in it, ‘* the establishment of the kingdom of death upon “the earth through the sin of our first parents; the destruction of the old world by the ‘* deluge for its wickedness, after the repeated menaces of at least an age; the miraculous “ manner in which Noah’s family were alone preserved from perishing by the waters; the fire ‘“ which came down from heaven upon the unrighteous cities, and the whole kingdom of ‘© Egypt punished, at different times, by ten terrible plagues.—In what manner Wisdom con- ‘* ducted the patriarchs, and other holy souls, the friends and favourites ef God, in their ‘several ‘* ages, inciting them to the most laudable actions, and, as a reward of their labours » reaching A2 = iv AUTHOR’S PREFACE, * forth to them a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crewn from the Lord’s hand ; how by on <‘ Moses obtained a good report, became the servant of God, and commissioned by oe ** dispense his mercies and judgments ; the sea opening a passage for the Israelites, and closing. ‘© again to overwhelm Pharaoh and his army ; the- former sustained miraculously ve oe ‘ for forty years, and drinking of the brook-which frowed from the hard rock, and the Egyp- ‘* tians perishing through the-calamity of their river stained with-foul blood ;- the former cover- “ed with a clond from the scorching-of the mid-day sun, and conducted by night with a light. “ of fire, and the latter perishing by a continued darkness, whose horror was encreased by the. ‘* glare of spectres and apparitions ; an army of- hornets marching before the people. of God, to «« drive the Canaanites from their possessions, and the Egyptians destroyed by as dreadful a ** persecution of locusts : The clouds, at several times, converted into a shower of: liailstones ‘to overthrow the wicked, and: at other.times, the elements suspending their known quali- “ ties in favour of God’s chosen.”” Such important facts recorded in this book, manifesting God’s displeasure against sin,. and his acceptance and reward of obedience, shew the great use- fulness of it, and that it was not without reason approved of by the church, and appointed to be read in it, for instruction and edification. And hence we may. presume,.Dr Raynolds, who wrote so.learnedly against the authority of the Apocryphal Books, was induced to speak so fa- vourably. of this,. and Ecclesiasticus, calling. them,. ‘* Valde bonos et utiles, et- omnibus trac- tationibus przeferendos,”’ (which is. the language also of St Austin, De Pradest. Sanct, lib. i.). * proximumaue illis locum deberi post Scripturam Sacram.”” Preel. vii. Ixxiv. The original: text of this bock. is. in Greck, nor are there reasons sufficient to induce us to conclude, that it was ever: extant in Hebrew: but though the author wrote Greek well, and was acquainted with approved writings, both of philosophers and poets in that language, yet, in all the editions which | have carefully consulted and compared, there seem to be many faulty and suspicious passages.. Junius has the like observation upon all the Apocryphal Books, ‘ Permulti, ubique inveniuntur loci varii, distosti, depravati. Depravati autem ! imo profli-. gati, aqué in contextu Greeco atque inT ranslationibus, quos quidem locos partim ex Canoni-. corum Scriptorum Authoritate, partim ex ipsorum authorum secum, aut aliorum cum ipsis comparatione, partimque ex judicio necesse fuit emendare.” Praef. ad Lib. Apoc. From him therefore I:promised myself no little assistance ; but neither Junius, nor the many commentators I have occasionally consulted, give that light which one might have expected in the most dif- ficult passages... And though they could not but perceive, and often do acknowledge the Greek text to be corrupt,. yet they content themselves with giving a general guess at the author’s meaning, without strictly and minutely examining the original, whether it would warrant and: justify such a sense,. or might be, by some happy conjecture, altered to afford a better. There. is indeed thus much to be said in the behalf of some of them, that being Catholic commentators, the very text itself was sacred to them; but why the few Protestant expositors, whom we find. among the Sacred critics, should be generally so sparing of their learned labours, as to at- tempt scarce a single emendation, when the badness of the original text in so many places called: for their assistance,.can be resolved into no truer cause, than what is mentioned before, we... that the Apocryphal books having been too much extolled by the Romanists, and even made a part of the Canon, and many of their erroneous tenets pretended to be warranted from thence, . these have been as remarkably regardless of them, and through an over-cautious delicacy, have. gone into the other extreme 3 which probably may be the reason, joined to the scarcity of useful : notes and observations upon the Apocryphal books, that the learned Poole has taken no notice - of these in his Synopsis. But as this way of reasoning against the general usefulness of a thing. from a particular abuse of it, is.allowed.on all hands to be illogical and inconclusive, there is-, the less occasion to enlarge on this head; As there are many. passages which to me seem faulty. in-the original; and“have hitherto pass-. ed unaltered, and even unattempted, | have endeavoured to restore these by. the most easy and. natural helps; sometimes by a different point only, sometimes by the change of afew. letters ;, ‘mistakes, which might arise probably,at first from the carelessness of transcribers, or. the like- ness and affinity of sound; but | have been cautious of indulging too much liberty and wanton-. ness this.way, and when any criticism.is attempted, and an emendation of the original text ofa. fered, which | was induced to, either by the sense of the context, or the badness of the present: AUTHOR'S PREFACE, v construction, or the authority of the ancient versions, which I have constantly consulted, I have always supported such an alteration with reasons, at least probable, and have not obtruded any favourite criticism dogmatically, but submitted it, with great deference, to superior judgment, being ready to retract any mistake, and to acknowledge my obligation for any triendly informa- tion. Nor have | boldly attempted any transposition, however inclined or induced to it, by the confusion and perplexity of some passages in their present state, such as ch. i. 16. ch. xi. 27. not having authority from MSS or the ancient versions ; for though a conjecture of a tran- sposition may be sometimes admitted in books which are confessedly written in prose, yet as some. learned men have been of opinion, [see Grabe’s Prolegom. tom. ult. chap. i. 2, Calmet’s Diction. in voce Wispom,] that this book, and that of Ecclesiasticus were originally written in metre, and there may perhaps seem some countenance for it from the many poetical terms here used, and from their being wrote stitche-wise in the Alexandrian Ms, in the same manner as the book of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles are, to which some of the-old La- tin translations, and Dr Grabe, in his !ate edition, probably for the same reason, bas joined them ; 1 was, on this account, less-disposed to indulge any conjectural transposition, as in metrical books, mistakes of that nature could not so easily happen ;-though nothing certain can be built upon this, even though we should suppose with some others, that this book was originally wrote in Hebrew. Thus much | can assert with great truth and sincerity, that as it was my design to make the work useful in all possible particulars, I-have purposely confined myself, to explain, as indeed all expositors should, the most difficult passages, nor have | designedly left any one dif- ficulty which respects either .the sense, or the reading of the original text itself, unattempted at ‘least. And this { have done by minutely examining the Greek text, collating the several edi- tions and their various readings, consulting the Oriental versions, and the several ancient Eng- lish translations, comparing the author’s account with the Scripture History, and collecting what was parallel, or would give an additional light, from Josephus, Philo, Spencer, Selden, &c. aid to these helps I have occasionally added some material notes and observations of those cele- brated Commentators Messieurs of Port-Royal, and Calinet. ‘The former give us the sentiments . of the fathers, and: their-exposition and reflections upon particular important points ; and the latter, in the explanatory way, exceeds al! the Commentators that went before, and almost su- - persedes the use of any other. Such as would see a short marginal paraphrase npon this book; will probably find satisfaction from.a small one in 12mo, published in 1706... And that the fol- lowing sheets may be useful to every class of readers, [ have likewise studied plainness and clear- ness, and inserted, in their proper places, many moral reflections, such as arose naturally from - the subject, which, as they tend to discourage vice, and shew the fallacy of libertines of Epicu- rean principles, so they.serve likewise to.enliven the work, and are a sort of relicf and entertain- ment after‘a.dry criticism, . The English translation of the Apocryphal books, which the Church now uses, is that which was made by the command -of. King James I. but though seven very considerable persons were employed in the work, and among them the learned Dr Duport, the then Greek Profes- sor in the university of Cambridge, yet it is surprising to observe in how many places it is. faulty and imperfect. In that of the Book of Wisdom, the language is not only bad, bat the sense often obscure -and intricate; and though some allowance may.be made upon account of the faultiness of the original text, which might in particular passages, occasion the obscurity of our version, yet often where the original is pure, clear, and intelligible, the translators have not only fallen short of the force and beauty of it, but have unaccountably mistaken the sense ; and where the Greek happens to be equivocal, and will admit of different meanings, have tree quently taken the worst, and.most foreign to the context. The translation of the first part is much the best executed, but the three last chapters: betray great negligence, and seem to come from a hasty, | had almost said, an unskilfol hand. In all such faulty instances 1 have helped our version, and-given the true rendering ; nor is the number ot. emendations attempt- ed in the Greek text less considerable : How far J have succeeded in the critical part, is sub- mitted to the judgment of the learned ; but hope it will meet with the more candour, being the first essay. If what 1 now offer to the public shall be favourably received, 1 shall be induced to publish, in due time, the like Commentary upon the book of Ecclesiasticus, which is already in some forwardness, . vi AUTHOR'S PRSAEKES E. Tuat nothing might be wanting that could give any insight into the book itself, or contribute to the discovery of its Author, I have prefixed two Dissertations of Calmet’s, which I purposely translated from the French, as they are drawn up with great judgment, and will be found very useful for the better understanding this writer; one upon the book itself, the other containing the opinions and conjectures of learned men about the Author. In the former, the style, sentiments, method, and subject matter of the Book of Wisdom, are so judiciously treated of, that it is need; less to attempt to add to it; but as the conclusion contains some bold assertions of the canonical- ness and inspiration of the apocryphal books, which are not warrantable, and which unanswered, through the authority of so great a name, might have done harm, I mean his appeal to those pre- tended councils, in whose decrees the Romanists take shelter, and this learned commentator so much triumphs in, L thought it incumbent upon me, however unequal to the challenge, to exa- mine and confute this pretence ; which I have done in the clearest manner, that the nature of such a controversy will admit of, and, by authorities and reasons so full and cogent, that, I trust, an antidote is provided against any possible poison that can be conveyed. In the latter, he re- counts the several supposed authors of this book mentioned by antiquity, and the arguments ur- ged in their behalf, but, at length, he leaves the point undetermined ; so that from him.we rather learn who is not, than who is the real author of it. But the reasons which he produces in favour of Philo the Jew, it must be confessed, are very strong; so strong, that it seems not improbable he would have adjudged this book to him, if the canonicalness of it would not have been endan- gered thereby. ‘he two principal arguments urged against Philo by him are, his not beimg in- spired, and the difference of style.—The former he himself acknowledges is of no force to such as do not own the canonicalness of this book ; and the latter he has answered, when he observes, that this may be occasioned by the difference of the subject matter, according to which, the same writer often varies his style, and seemingly differs from himself; which is particularly true of Philo, for sometimes his pieces are allegorical, sometimes literal, sometimes between both ex- tremes, and yet from some resemblance in the features, one may easily know that they belong -te the same parent: Facies non omnibus una, Nec diversa tamen, qualis decet esse sororum. Such a variation of style, therefore, if there were no other arguments against him of more weight, no more concludes against Philo, than a change of dress, according to the exigency of a man’s business and occasions, infers a real change of his person. St Jerom acquaints us, that many of the ancients supposed this book to be wrote by Philo, Prol. in lib. Sap. and some very considerable moderns are of the same opinion. Dr Raynolds contends that it was wrote by Philo in the time of the Emperor Caius, who would have his statue set up and adored in the temple of Jerusalem, Sueton. in vit. Calig. 22. and that the Jews sent this very Philo, as their ambassador to intercede with him not to profane their temple,. but the ° Emperor ordered Petronius to see the orders about his statue complied with. ‘This, he says, is perfectly agreeable to the argument and drift of the Book of Wisdom ; and from-hence he ac- counts for those precepts in the first and sixth chapters, which contain the duty of princes, that they were inserted with a view to Caius, to admonish him how he ought to act, or to.instruct his successors. Hence likewise those fine observations upon the reward of virtue, the happy exit of good men, and the torment which awaits the wicked, especially those in power, in the second, third, fourth, fifth chapters, designed, as he supposes, for the comfort of the distressed Jews, and as a warning and terror to evil and tyrannical princes. Hence, lastly, those severe. remarks upon the original, progress, mischief, and downfal of images and idols, and those threatenings : against them, their makers and worshippers, which are to be found at large in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters. Cens. Lib. Apoc. tom. i. Preel. 22, : Junius thinks the Book of Wisdom was composed from some fragments of Solomon, and that it is an extract from his writings, which the seventh, eighth, and ninth. chapters may seem to favour, and that Philo was the compiler; and so takes the middle way, between those who.assign it to Solomon, and those who ascribe it to Philo. Bishop Cosin concurs in giving this book to Philo, Schol. Hist. sect. 36. and refers in the margin to the following authorities, as confirming this opinion, S. Basil Ep. ad Amphiloch. S.-Hier. Pizef. in lib. Sol. Beleth de Div. Offic. c. 60, Jo. Sarisbur. Epist. 172. Aquin. in Dionys, de Divin. Nom. c. 4. Lect.g. Bonavent. in-lib. AUTHOR’S PREFACE. Vil Sap. Lyran. in eundem. These farther authorities in favour of Philo, joined to Calmet’s argu- ments, though stronger than any hitherto alledged for any other person, must yet be allowed to amount only to a bare probability. : As there is not sufficient light for determining, with any certainty, the real author of the Book of Wisdom, or the precise time in which he wrote, I] shall set down only what is most generally agreed on with relation to this book, cz. that it was not wrote by. Solomon, though the title carries his name, nor originally in Hebrew; that it was wrote by a Hellenist Jew, for the style shews that it was a Greek that composed it, as St Jerom observes, Stylus ipse Griecam Eloquen- tiam redvlet, Prol. in lib, Sap. and from some vircumstances in the book itself, it seems most pro- bable to be wrote by a Helenist Jew of Alexandria in particular. That it was wrote long after Malachi, and the ceasing of prophecy, even a considerable time after the LXX interpreters, and therefore not by one of them. We may,I think, come still nearer its true date, if we place it. after the times of the Maccabees, and, consequently, that it is much later than the Book of Eccle- siasticus : For what Grotius urges from its being placed in all the copies before that of Ecclesias- ticus, is of little weight to determine its AZra, nor is the order of books as it occurs in our bibles, any rule for settling the precedence in point of time. For does not the book of Job fol- low after the Pentateuch, and other books coniessedly later? And yet the learned suppose it to be wrote before any of the books of Moses, and probably the oldest book we have now remaining. See Origen. cont. Cels. lib. i. Euseb. Demonst. livang. lib. i. c. 6. Selden De Jure Nat. &c. c. 11. Bishop Sherlock. Dissert. lI. In a word, allowing the uncertainty of the author, and of the exact time when this book was wrote, yet, as it certainly precedes the most priraitive ecclesiasti- cal writings in point of time, and cannot, without manifest injury, be supposed inferior to them in point of worth, it ought at least to be put upon the same level with them, aud challenge as high a regard. Wuart a late learned Metropolitan says of the authority of the writings of the apostolical fa- thers, belongs inan equal, if not a higher degree, to the apocryphal books, especially the didactical ones: “ We cannot doubt but that what was universally approved.of, and allowed, not by a few “ Jearned men, but the whole church in those days, what was permitted to be publicly read to “the faithful for their comfort and instruction, must, by this means have received the highest “ human approbation, and ought to be looked upon by us, though not of equal authonty with “ those books, which the same church has delivered to us as strictly canonical, yet as standing “in the first rank of ecclesiastical writings.” Archbishop Wake’s Prelim. Disc. to the Transl. of Apost. Epist. p. 119. [N. B. In this Edition of the Commentary of the Book of Wisdom, the Reader will observe, that: the many Additions. communicated to the Author by avery learned Friend, are included in Hooks, which he designed to have melted down into the body of his Work, and tu have acknowledged, no doubt, his Obligations to the Person that sent them. But he had executed this Design m Pare only, the Observations being transcribed no further than Chap. ix. and the original Copy of them not found among his Papers. This Loss has, by goud Fortune, beer supplied by another Friend, through whose hands the Observations were trausmitted to hin, aadwho was indulged the Liberty of taxing a Copy of them for hinself; from whence they are now. given to the Public. Lhey correct often Mistakes of the Author, which it was thought proper to continue as he ieft them, that the Reader might the Letter judge of the Korce of the Remarks, and that a Liberty might not.be tuken after his Death, which himself only, while alive, had a right to make use of}. CALMET’S PREFACE TO THE BOOK OF WISDOM. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. USTOM, and the language of the church, have always given to the books attributed to Soe. lomon, the title of Sapiential Books. The fathers otten cite them under the general ‘name of * The Wisdom of Solomon ;”’ and, in Ecclesiastical language, the Book of Wisdom compre- hends, not only all the undoubted works of that prince, but likewise Ecclesiasticus, and that which we are now going to explain, which, by a peculiar privilege, hath been called, by way. | of eminence, The Book of Wisdom ; or, as the Greek expresses it, The Wisdom of Solomon, . Not that Solomon was the author of this Book, scarce any learned men are of that opinion ; but it has been looked upon as a summary of his sentiments, and as containing some of his most weighty and important maxims. Some of the ancients quote it also by the Greek name Pana- retos, i. e. a treasury of all virtue, or a collection of useful instructions to bring us to it. And in this sense, we must understand wisdom in this author, as synonymous to religion, piety, justice, and the fear of God; a sense widely different from that in which wisdom is understood in the writings of the heathen philosophers, where it has but little concern or connection with religion, and the practice of real virtue, aiming only to enlighten and improve the understand- ing, and to give it a sort of fruitless knowledge of general truths of a very imperfect morality founded wholly upon nature. : . . The principal end proposed by the author of this book is the instruction of kings, nobles, and judges of the earth ; he addresses his discourse to them, accommodates his rules to their cir- cumstances and occasions, and exhorts them to a serious and diligent study of wisdom. And to incline them the more effectually to it, he assumes the name of Solomon, and speaks to them as in his person with an air of authority, but without haughtiness or affectation. He.proposes this great prince to them as a pattern, and recounts by what means he arrived to that height of glory, riches, knowledge, and eloquence ; he declares that it is to wisdom alone he is indebted for all these blessings, and that whoever will imitate him, may arrive to the same ‘happiness and . perfection. And to engage them the more effectually to the pursuit, he assures them that the means of attaining wisdom are not difficult, that to gain her is only asking her of God, ‘that she even prevents those that seck her, and hastens to meet those who sincerely desire her. He discovers to them, at the same time, the obstacles that they may meet with in'the study and persuit of wisdom, which he shews are chargeable on men themselves, rather than on God ; that therefore they wrongfully accuse nature, and to no purpose urge their own weakness and infirmities. For death and sin made not their first entry into the world through the will of God, but by the fraud of the devil, and through the fault of men themselves. At first, man was created pure, innocent, and immortal, and was himself the cause of forfeiting these great bless- ‘ings and prerogatives. But notwithstanding his fall, wisdom is still possible ‘to be attained by him, and, through the assistance of God, he may acquire it. -But to engage God to be his friend, he must avoid, above all things, sin, debauchery, and deceit ; for God will be served faithfully, and with an upright heart, nor will wisdom ever enter into, or dwell in a deceitful and corrupt soul, He expressly confutes those who believe the soul to be mortal, and who place the'r sovereign happiness in the pleasures of sense ; and says, they deservedly brought death upon themselves, by siding with the devil, and ranging themselves in his party, who, threugh envy, brought men inte this degenerate and unhappy state. He represents the righteous-man as reviled, hated, persecuted, condemned unjustly, and, at length, put to death, and in such terms as suit admirably with the sufferings and passion ef Jesus Christ. He threatens the wicked with the judgments of God, and extreme punishment in another life, and>rpresents them in a_ state of despair at secing the happiness of the just, which they shall be witnesses of. On the other side, he describes the blessed condition of the saints in a future state, as a condition of joy, peace, CALMET’S PREFACE, ix and glory, and represents them as kings and judges, who shall shine in heaven, and exercise there a jurisdiction as glorious, as their humiliation was on earth contemptible. He commends virginity, and opposes it to the many disorders of lust and incontinence, and, in particular, in- veighs against the sin of adulterers, whose posterity he shews to be unfortunate, and ofshort con- tinuance. He speaks of wisdom in the most magnificent and pompous terms, in such a manner, that he often attributes to her what in strictness, belongs only to the divinity itself, of whom she isa ray and emanation. He gives her the name of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, Creator, which fills and knows all things, and is Almighty ; one in essence, but manifold and diversi- fied in her operations. He says, that wisdom is a sort of efflux or vapour, which issues and pro- ceeds from the sovereign virtue of God, an emanation of his splendor, the brightness of the everlasting light, the spotless mirror of the majesty of God, and the express image of his good- ness: That being but one, she can do all things, and continuing the same, renovates, or makes all things new. That none are beloved of God who are not filled with wisdom ; that she is al- ways about his throne, and was present at, and assisted in the first creation of man. He prays to the Lord to send her down from heaven, that she may instruct him, and be his guide and as- sistant. a He chews the advantages which wisdom procures to men by his own happy experience ; that Adam, who fell at the beginning, recovered himse!f by wisdom; that through her, Noah had the happiness to please God, and to preserve himself pure and unspotted in the midst of a wic- ked and perverse generation ; that it was wisdom which preserved Abraham from the general corruption of the world, and Lot in the destruction of Sodom. He relates the history of Jacob and Joseph ; that of Moses and the Hebrews in Egypt and in-the desert ; and the principal mi- racles that God wrought in their favour, and- always ascribes to wisdom the glory of them. He draws an elaborate and judicious parallel of the different manner in which God treated the Egyp- tians and the Hebrews, and compares the just severity of God towards the former, with the many signal instances of favour shewn to the latter. He enlarges upon the original of idolatry, and shews its folly, progress, fatal consequences and effects, and foretels its ruin and downfal. That idolaters are the most senseless of all men, and their blindness absolutely inexcusable, in not discovering and finding out the true God by the help and scale of the creatures. And in general it may be said, that in no other book of Scripture, nobler and more grand conceptions. of the Deity are to be met with than in this. There are some particular sentiments in this book, which have made some doubt of the inspi- ration of the author, and of the canonicalness of the book itself. We shall examine, in a parti- cular Dissertation, what he says about the original of idolatry. There is some difficulty in what he asserts with respect to his own soul, that it being naturally good, had the happiness to light into a body likewise pure and undefiled, ch. viii. 20. We have examined the passage in the course of this work, and shewn, that he speaks there only of natural parts, and not of any moral qualities or endowments. He says in another place, that Joseph had the sceptre of Egypt, which is not mentioned in the Books of Moses ; and that the Hebrews, whilst they remained there, under the bondage of Pha- raoh, were a just and irreproachable people, which is contrary to what Ezekiel and other pro- phets say of. them, who accuse them of idolatry in that very country. He approves of the He- brews spoiling the Egyptians of their goods, as. being only the just recompence of their labour, _ which before-was so badly requited. He adds likewise many particulars to Moses’s account: He seems to believe that Abraham lived at the time of the building of the tower of Babel, and that wisdom prevented him from consenting to that bold and presumptuous design, and kept him free from idolatry, which, like an-inundation, overspread the earth. He accuses the Canaanites of magic, eating human. flesh, worshipping flies and insects, which the Scriptures do not charge them with, It is true indeed, that the Philistines adored Beelzebub, the god of flies ; but these people were not of the race of. Canaan, nor of his extraction. He says, that the fire which fell with hail and rain upon Egypt, spared those animals which plagued the Egyptians, supposing that the frogs, flies, and locusts were still subsisting at that time, which is contrary to the account of Moses.—He speaks of manna, as a food prepared in heaven, as the nourishment of angels, and in which the Hebrews found every thing agreeable to. x CALMET’S PREFACE. their palate that they could wish for ; whereas Moses tells us, that the taste of manna was like that of wafers, or bread prepared with oil ; that the Israelites were so surfeited with it, that they disliked the very sight of it. He makes apparitions and spectres to haunt the Egyptians during the three days darkness in Egypt, supposing them to be visible by the light of some sudden and occasional flashes ; and adds some circumstances about the Israelites passage through the Red Sea, which seems fabulous, as what he says of grass and flowers appearing at the bottom of it, to make their journey more easy and delightsome ; and, in fine, seems to believe, that the quails which fell in the wilderness, round about the camp of the Hebrews, was a miraculous production, like that of the flies and frogs which Moses brought upon-the land of Egypt. But to all this we may answer in general, 1. That it is a piece of natural justice due to an au- thor, that is not living nor capable of explaining his own sentiments, to understand his expressions in the most favourable sense, and not to impute a bad meaning to him, as long as one 4s not for- ced to it by the plain evidence of his own words: Now we have shewn in the-comment, that there are none of these passages which have been excepted against, but what may be understood in a good and consistent sense. 2. With respect to the additions which are complained of, it is common, we know, both in sacred and profane history, for one writer to supply .what hath been omitted by another. « This answer will ‘hold, it may be replied, when two authors cotemporary, or nearly so, re- cord the same fact; but the case is quite otherwise here, as the author-of this book lived many ages after Moses.” To this we rejoin, that there are two ways by which the memory. of events may be transmitted to posterity, wiz. by scripture or by tradition. Ifthe author could not come to the knowledge of these particulars by the first of these ways, he might learn them by the second. —But if this author was inspired, as we assert, and shall hereafter shew, there is no withstanding the force of his evidence, unless there could be found in his account of things some manifest con- tradiction to the sacred history, or sentiments contrary to truth.and religion, which can never be -shewn. : ; ¥or, with regard to Joseph’s having the sceptre of Egypt, it is not to be understood of a king- .dom or sovereignty properly so called ; it means only that he was the second person in the king- dom, and had a very extensive rule over all that country. And do not Joseph’s own brethren say as much? “ Joseph is yet alive, and is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” As to the Hebrews, who lived under the cruel bondage of Pharaoh, loaded and overwhelmed with hardships, they were just and irreproachable with respect to that king and his subjects, who had cruelly enslaved them, though not so indeed in regard to God, who permitted their slavery to punish their idolatry. —The spoil of the goods-of the Egyptians by the Hebrews is not condemned any where in scripture ; and such as have wrote on that subject, justify the action by many substantial reasons. —What this author says of the Canaanites is but too true. The description which the scripture gives of their abominations is much more shocking than any thing said of them in this book. We have already answered, in general, to the objection drawn from the addition to the sacred account ; the: rest will be discussed in the Commentary itself. Some have raised an argument from the author himself, “ If he is not the real ‘Solomon, why does he endeavour to pass for that prince? Can “ the Holy Spirit inspire a writer to personate what he is not?” We answer, that such an artifice in this writer, whoever he be,is neither fraudulent nor false. It is no more than a sort of prosopo- peia,.an ingenious fiction, whereby a writer, to give more weight and authority to the instruc-” tions delivered, assumes the name and person of another more ancient. The woman of Tecoah speaks in such a disguised manner, when she pretends before the king to have lost one of her sons, 2 Sam. xiv. 4. By the same artifice, one of the sons of the prophets feigns himself wounded’ for having let a prisoner escape, 1 Kings xx. 35. Thus Nathan reproved David for his sin with’ Bathsheba, under the significant parable of the ewe lamb. And thus the prophets introduce God, Moses, Abraham as occasionally talking, to render their discourses, by such a fiction, the more lively and affecting. The author of this book designed to give the heathens a just idea of the original and end of true wisdomn.—The Greeks were passionately fond of philosophy ; butthey knew not its true origin, ascribing it to their own industry and pains, which the wise man, in thistreatise, shews to bethe gift of God. ‘They make it consist in fruitless speculations, or in rules of a morality merely chime- rical (as was that of the Stoics, which exceeded the power of human nature) or one purely. natu- CALMET’S PREFACE. xi ral, which went no further than common honesty, and the doing such actions as were agreeable to right reason. But this writer proposes to them supernatural wisdom, having God for its end, and holiness for its object. He overthrows idolatry by shewing its ridiculous rise, sad conse- quences, and the horrors and abominations which accompanied it; that therefore men, and, a- bove all, philosophers are inexcusable, in not knowing and acknowledging God, and _transfer- ring to creatures that honour which is due to the Creator only. In a word, he destroys the o- pinions of the Epicureans and Sadducees, who denied the immortality of the soul, a future judg- ment, the reality of hell, and the punishments and rewards of another life. After this manner he opposes the principle mistakes of the philosophers, and gives here the plan of a true and sound philosophy. Original sin, the fall, repentance, and recovery of the first man, the rewards and punishments in a future state, are as well, or perhaps more clearly described in this book than in any of the Old Testament, which is of great consequence, to establish the truth of these o- pinions, and to shew the antiquity of such a belief among the Jews. The six first chapters of this book are as a preface to the rest of the work ; they are a sort of an abridgment of the nine first chapters of the book of Proverbs. In them kings and nobles are exhorted earnestly to the study of wisdom, In the seventh and eighth chapters, the author, as- suming the name of Solomon, proposes himself as a pattern, and shews what means he employ- ed.to attain true wisdom. One sees there the description of his happy reign, and of his consum- mate knowledge, agreeably to what is said of it in the first book of Kings. The ninth chapter - is a paraphrase on the prayer which Solomon made to God in the beginning of his reign, which is mentioned 1 Kings iii. 6, 7, 8, 9. The tenth chapter, to the end of the book, is a continua- tion of the same prayer, where he enlarges upon the power of wisdom, and its effects, the evils- which accompany the wicked and inconsiderate, and the rewards of the truly wise and righte- ous, which he confirms by various instances and examples. The work seems not to have been finished, or at least the conclusion of it has not reached us, for the author does not finish his. prayer, as it is natural to suppose he should, according to his first design. We shall not enlarge here upon the writer of this book, nor the time in which it was written, , we shall do that in a particular dissertation. The original text is in Greek, which is yet pre- served, and it does not appear that it was ever extant in Hebrew, notwithstanding what some authors have thought tothe contrary. We find none of those Hebraisms, which are hardly to be avoided by those who translate from the Hebrew,. nor any turns but what are usual in the Greek tongue. The author manifestly had read the Heathen writers, and wrote Greek well ; he even borrows some expressions which are peculiar to them, as the Giants being drowned in the waters of the deluge ; the river of forgetfulness, or Lethe ;.the kingdom of Pluto, or Hades ; Ambrosia, &c. There are some passages, in which he plainly appears to have imitated Plato, and one clearly perceives that he had studied that philosopher. His style is swelling, abounds . with epithets, often obscure, and almost throughout poetical and figurative. ‘The Jewish writ. ers had some knowledge of him, and have quoted him sometimes ; Rabbi Moses ben Nach- man cites particularly chap. vii. 7. which he gives in Syriac, or such Hebrew, as was spoken at Jerusalem in the time of our Saviour. The author often quotes Scripture, and always according to the Septuagint. Thus ch, v. 10, 11, 12, 13. he compares the life of man to a shadow, to a vessel cutting the waves, toa. bird which parts the air, and to an arrow shot at a mark, which is taken from Prov. xxx. 19, where the wise man says, according to the LXX, that ‘* there are four things which are hard to be known, the. way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst. of the sea, and the way. of a young man in his youth; but, in the Hebrew, the last elause is, ‘¢ and the way ofa -young man. with a virgin.” So that passage in ch. ii. 12. “* Let us lie in wait for the righteous, because he is not for our turn,” is taken from Is. iii, 10. where the Septuagint reads, ‘* Let.us bind the righteous, because he is disagreeable to us ;” but, in the Hebrew, itis, ‘* say ye to the righteous, that all shall be well with him.” In his dcepunt of the plagues of Egypt, he follows the LXX, particularly in what he says of the flies and lo- custs. And when he speaks of idols in the xiiith and xivth chapters, he almost, word for word copies what we have in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Baruch, and the Psalms on that subject. in The Latin translation which we have of this book is not St Jerom’s; it is the ancient Vul- gate, used in the church before the time of that father, and made from the Greek, in the first fe sh. . ati CALMET’S PREFACE ages of the church, by an author unknown. The translator does not seem well acquainted with the purity of the Latin tongue, often making use of words that are not used by approved aus thors in that sense; as honestas for riches, Aonestus for a rich man, respectus or visitatio for the punishment which God inflicts upon the- wicked, sepervacuitas for vanity, or vain-glory, animalia supervacua for dangerous and noxious animals. The translation keeps very close to the text, and is strictly exact in rendering every single word faithfully, neglecting all orha- ments of speech, and the beauties of the Latin idiom. St Jerom, in his preface to the books of Solomon says, that he corrected Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles, from the ancient ver~ sion of the LXX, but did not meddle with the translation of this book, or Ecclesiasticus, There are not many various readings in the Greek copies, but a much greater number in the Latin ones. The Complut. edition, that of Antwerp, and of Sixtus V. in 1590, afford a great variety, which are corrected in the Bibles of Clement V1tl. and in the Vulgate. We have marked them at the bottom of each page in the commentary. : The book of Wisdom was not always received by the church as canonical, as not being ad- mitted into the Jewish Canon of scripture among those books, which were written in their lan. guage, and passed through their hands to the Christian Church without any doubt or excep~ _ tion. But such as were written in Greek, as Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus, have been disputed and contested, and the church, always cautious and wary in her decisions, did not decree to admit them for Canonical, till after mature judgment and long deliberation ; which slowness in her proceedings,and determination, shews, that she did not admit them hastily, or by chance. The scarcity of books in the beginning of Christianity, the great distance of churches from one another, the diffculty of assembling general councils, made each church keep to its own tradition, to admit, or net to admit books, till the truth was at length discovered. . The principal reasons brought against the canonicalness of this book are, 1. That there is no appearance that Philo the Jew, to whom very many authors ascribe it, was inspired ; he lived and died a Jew without any knowledge of Jesus Christ, or receiving his gospel. 2. The doubts of some ancient fathers, who have ranked it in the number of disputed writings.—That several particular churches left it out of their Canon ; and even some late interpreters, as Lyranus and Catejan, did not admit it as indisputably canonical. g. The Jews not admitting it into their Canon, for it does not appear to have been known among them before the time of Jesus Christ. 4, Internal evidence in the book itself to reject it, as plain imitations of the gospel, and writ- ings of the apostles ; the opposition of some passages to the undoubted scriptures ; and the addition of others, which appears to have been made on purpose. All that can be objected on this head, we have mentioned before in the body of this preface ; and will examine, in the dis- sertation upon the author of this book, the objections with respect to Philo, and those passages in the gospel and writings of the apostles, which resemble some in this book. We have also answered, both in the commentary and in this preface, the accusation of untruth, which has been urged against this writer. ‘There remains only the difficulty which arises from the Jews not acknowledging it to be canonical, and some of the ancients not receiving it. The authority of the Jews hath never been of any great weight in the church, particularly of the modern Jews, whose malice and unfair dealing, in every thing relating to our. faith and holy _ religion, is open and notorious. ‘The apostles, whose authority is of infinitely more weight than theirs, have taken quotations and proofs from this book [a]. And it is begging the question to say, that this writer copied from them. They recommended it to the faithful, who have ever since preserved, read, and cited it as inspired scripture, so that we cannot now form any reason- able doubt about its canonicalness. To the testimony of those few among the ancients, who have. disputed its authority, we oppose a croud of witnesses in all ages of the church, who have ac- knowledged and quoted it as divine scripture. In short, to the scruples of those who, secing an- tiquity wavering upon this point, have found some difficulty to persuade themselves to admit this book into the Canon, we oppose the third council of Carthage, in 397; that of Sardica;. in 347; that of Constantinople in Trullo, in 692; the 11th‘of Toledo, in 675; that.of Florence, in 1438 and lastly, the 4th session of the council Trent, all which expressly admitted this book into: the class of Holy Scripture. And there is scarce any ancient father who has not quoted and com- Ps aN EE A pues Oasis tenn, RA NS Wel Abt atonidlcnet |p {4} See this objection discussed in note on chap. ix. 13. and Bishop Cosin’s Scholast. Hist. -p. 23. CAL METS . PR EF A-C FE. xii mended it. Many of them attribute it to Solomon, others to some prophet, and all'to an inspired: writer [6]. We may therefore reasonably urge upon this occasion, the argument of - prescription: ‘against our adversaries, and let them produce their title against our quiet possession. Let them attack and confute, if they can, so many councils [c], and those learned ecclesiastical [d] writers [5] Some of the later Fathers, as St Jerom, St Austin, &c. give indeed very honourable titles to the Book of Wis- dom, and the other apocryphal books, calling them canonical, sacred, divine; but then they mean not by cano- nical, as the church of Rome does, canones fidei, a perfect rule of faith; but canzes moruin et historie, such as are profitable only for instruction, and to inform men in the history of the Jewish church. See Dupin’s Bibli- oth. Pat. tom. i. p. 1. Nor, when they call them sacred or divine, do they mean to equal them to divine scrip- ture, strictly so called, or to make them of the same sovereign.authority with the undoubted canonical books themselves, for the establishing matters of faith, or determining controversies in religion. See St Jer. Epist. 7. et Let. Epist. ad Paul: Pref. in lib. Sol. Aust. de Doctr. Christ. lib. ii. c. 8. Retract. lib. ii. c. 10. De Civit. Dei, lib. xv. c. 23. Cyril. Hieros. in Catech. sect. 4, Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. vi. c. 25. Ruffin. in Expos. Symb. {c]_ As the catholics lay the stress of their cause upon these councils, and this learned commentator triumphs in them as their bulwark, it seems proper, and even necessary, to examine into the authority of these councils, and consider how far they prove the point they are brought for. I shall take them in the order as they stand in this preface. ‘With respect to the third council of Carthage, whereat St Austin himself, they say, was present, we reply, 1: This council was not cecumenical, but only a provincial one. 2. The 47th canon (according to Bi- nius) which they urge against us, was not originally in the acts of this council, but added in the time of Pope Boniface. For if this council was held under the consulate of Czsarius and Atticus in the year 397, as the in- scription or title of this council in all copies has it, there can be no such canon in it; for Boniface, to whom this canon refers, was not, at that time, pope of Rome, nor above twenty years after, not till 418. 3. ‘The great and general council of Chalcedon, consisting of 630 bishops, confirmed the code of the universal church ; in that code were contained the learned canons of the council of Laodicea, wherein we have the catalogue of the cano- nical books of scripture; but the canons of the council of Carthage were not confirmed by it, as not having yet any place in it. And therefore we may safely conclude, that neither Pope Leo the First (whose legate subscrib-, ed the council for him), nor any of the bishops there gathered together, acknowledged any other books of ca- nonical scripture than what the council of Laodicea (which left out all these books) had declared to be received, and read for such in the church, before their time, 4. The Romanists themselves do not generally allow the authority of this council, to determine what books are canonical: For Wisdom, and the rest of the apocryphal books, have been since rejected’ by many great and considerable persons among them, as Isidore, Nicephorus, Rabanus Maurus, Hugo, Lyran, Cajetan. See Limborch’s Theol. Christ. lib. i. c. 3. Melch. Canus. Loc. Theol, lib. v. cap. ult. Baron. Ann, tom. viii. ad Ann. 692. The next is that of Sardica, or Sardis, in 347, which was so far from a general council, that it was only a western synod. The canons of this council were never received by the catholie church as general laws, they were. never put into the code of the canons of the universal church, which was approved by the great council of Chal- ~ cedon, but were first added to the code by Dionysius Exiguus, as those of the council of Carthage likewise were. The east never received these canons, nor would the bishops of Africa own them. ‘The popes only used them, and cited them under the name of the council of Nice, to give them the greater weight and authority. See Dupin’s Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 261. As to that at Constantinople in Trullo, this is only cited by them as confirming the council of Carthage; for in other respects, the canons of this council are not so agreeable to the Roman writers, who represent them as falsified and corrupt. They do not relish the 36th canon, which makes the bishop of Constantinople equal to the bishop of Rome; nor the 55th, which lays some restraints upon the church of Rome. But it is to be well ob- served, that the 227 bishops here assembled, in the second canon, confirmed also the council of Laodicea (which -was 37 years before that of Carthage which they urge), which reckons the canonical books of Scripture as we - do, and excludes the rest, in canon 59th, as not properly belonging to them. When, therefore, in the same second canon, they allow also the council of Carthage, they cannot be supposed immediately to contradict them- selves, but that they understood the Laodicean council to be taken in one sense, and the council of Carthage in another; the latter extended, in a large and improper acceptation of scripture, to the ecclesiastical books ; and the former, in a more strict and proper sense, took in only those books that were really authentic and divine, For in one and the same. sense they cannot be taken, nor otherwise be confirmed and stand together. “See Co- sin’s Schol. Hist. sect. 104. Episcop. Instit. Theol. lib. vii. c.'7. There is still less to be said in favour of the 11th council of Toledo, which was subscribed only by the arch- bishop of Toledo, sixteen bishops, two deacons, two bishops deputies, and seven-abbots. A number too small and contemptible to make a council ! That of Florence, in 1438, is of so modern a date, that it can be of no great weight. It was assembled by the authority of the Pope, and under his influence and management. In the large tomes and editions of the councils, no such canon, as‘ is pretended, is to be found; it is a decree added by some impostor, probably the epitomizer or abridger of the councils, and is supposed with reason to be a forgery, for nothing was mentioned at this council concerning the canon of scripture. Nor can it be called a general or cecumenical council, even in respect of the Latin’ churches only ; many of which neither acknowledged Eugenius‘or his council; and the xiv CALMET’S PREFACE which are the bulwarks of our cause: they must overthrow all these, before they will be able to: reach us. The prophecies which are to be met with in this book, and which have been acknowledged as such by the fathers, are still further proofs of its canonicalness. All that is mentioned here of the future downfal of idolatry, and of the terrible judgments which. God will inflict upon the wicked, may be considered as a true prophecy. ; But the place upon which the ancients have fixed with most attention, is, where the author de- scribes the punishments of the just man, in terms so resembling the sufferings of Jesus Christ,, that Grotius imagines these passages to have been added to the book by some Christian interpo- lator, after the death of our Saviour ; which is not at all probable, as they are so linked and inter- woven with the context, that they are not to be separated without manifest violence: The fathers had quite a different opinion of them, and have made use of them against Jews and heathens, and shewn the complete accomplishment of them in the person of Jesus Christ, The Jews themselves do not absolutely reject this book ; I have before observed, that a learned: Rabbi quotes a passage from it in his preface to the Pentateuch. John Picus of Mirandola asserts,. that the Jews read a book of wisdom.in Hebrew, composed, as they thought, by Solomon, as the marrow and quintessence of the law of Moses. But it is very different from this.book. Isidore, Sixtus of Sienna, Christopher a Castre, Gonsalve a Cervantes, Lorin, in. their prefaces to this book,, maintain that it was written at first in Hebrew, and afterwards translated into Greek.; many affirm, that it was written by Solomon, and translated after into Greek by the LXX. But these last opinions go too far. If the Jews were acquainted with, and read this book, it must have been. translated into their language from the Greek, and we must indeed agree that they never received’ it as canonical. council of Basil, then sitting, condemned this of Florence as a schismatical assembly. And the Greeks, as soon as they were returned, and got to Constantinople, would stand to nothing that their own fears and the Pope’s. persuasion had before led them into.. See Coslin’s Schol. Hist. sect. 160. The last is the famous decree of the council of Trent, wherein forty-three, or some few persons more, were- only assembled, and cursed: all other persons in the- world that did not. receive their new canon of scripture in such manner and form as they were then first pleased to appoint it. To establish this cecumenical decree, as. they most unwarrantably called it, of the Greek church they had not one; of the English as few; of the Hel vetian, German, and northern churches.none ; of the French scarce two ; of the Spanish.not many. All the rest were Italians, and they in no great number ; among whom some were the Pope’s pensioners, and sent thither to: overbalance the votes of others, many of them titular, and some unlearned. And was it ever heard in the world before, that forty bishops of Italy, assisted, perhaps, with half a score others, should make up a general council for all Christendom ? (See Coslin’s Scho}. Hist. sect. 194.) Wherein, as there was not.any one greatly remark- able for learning, that voted the canonical authority of the apocryphal books, which the eastern and western. churches ever held as suspected and uncertain ; so some of them, (as Father Paul observes, whose testimony, upon this occasion, must be allowed of great weight, and less exceptionable) were lawyers, eminent perhaps in their own profession, but of little skill and understanding in controverted points of religion; and such divines as were- among them were of low parts, and less than ordinary sufficiency. ‘The greater number were courtiers, and: bishops of such small-places, or dignities only. titular, that supposing-every one to represent the clergy and peo- ple from whence he came, it could not be said that one in a thousand, in Christendom, was represented in this. pretended council. See Brent’s Transl. of the Hist. of the Council of Trent, B. ii..p. 153. I mentioned just. above, that the eastern and western churches looked upon the apocryphal books as suspected and uncertain. Those that are curious may see this matter very minutely discussed by a particular detail of the sentiments of the. several churches, extracted chiefly from the writings of the bishops that presided over the respective sees, which Episcopius has happily execured, Instit. Theol. lib, iii. c. 7. in such a clear manner, and so exact a method, as to time, place, and persons, that we see the judgment of these two great. ecclesiastical bodies, as it were, in one view, and without any confusion or perplexity.. ; [d] This may be disproved by almost an infinity of testimonies in Bishop Cosin’s Scholastical History, wherein, by an historical disquisition of the universal tradition of the church of God, unanimously delivered in all ages from the apostles times (and before) to ours, and by a very. particular. enumeration of the testimonies of the ancient ec- clesiastical writers through the several centuries, it appears, that neither the ancient fathers, bishops,nor ecclesiastical writers, taught or believed otherwise than we now hold : So that it seems strange that so learned a writer as Calmet should either be so greatly deceived in a point of such consequence, or one in other respects.so fair and candid should knowingly triumph in false evidence and unsupported authorities : Nor is it less strange that he should not give the incomparable book of. this prelate a place in his Bibliotheca Sacra, as the nature of that work require ~ ed; but we may suppose that he either did not know it, being written in English, or did not care to have it known and read, the answers of it being so cogent against the Romanists, and the book itself the strongest bul- wark of the Protestant cause in this controverted point betwixt us.. CALMET’S DISSERTATION UPON THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK OF WISDOM. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. F the dispute which hath been raised about the author of the Book of Wisdom, was only among Catholic writers, and all parties were agreed upon its canonicalness, and the inspiration of the author, we should have given ourselves no more trouble about this, than some others of the sacred books, whose canonicalness is acknowledged by all the churches, even those which are separated from our communion, though the writers of them are doubtful and unknown. When once it is agreed that the Holy Spirit is the original author of a book, one need not be so solici- tous who the person employed as the instrument is. But in the question before us, many of those who dispute about the writer of this work, attempt to destroy its authority, and, by diminishing the credit of its author, would take the liberty to reject it as apocryphal. To oppose this is the design of the present dissertation ; wherein we shall endeavour to shew, that though the author of the Book of Wisdom be not certainly known, the book itself does not cease, on that account, to be authentic, inspired, canonical. Many Catholic writers suppose the author of this book to be Solomon himself. ‘* He wrote it, say they, in Hebrew, from whence it was translated into Greek by the Seventy Interpreters, to- gether with the other works of that prince: The ancient Fathers quote it often under his name, and it has generally that title in the Greek copies. The author plainly assumes this character throughout, and the true Solomon stands confessed in as clear a manner, as in any other of his books. Every body agrees, that it is not unworthy of his consummate wisdom, and high reputa- tion ; and that his sentiments and maxims are comprized in it: That though this piece 1s not now to be met with in the Hebrew, it cannot be concluded from thence, that it was never wrote in that language: For how many works have we in the versions and translations only, the originals of which are not now to be found? And how many are ascribed to particular authors, as indis- putably theirs, which have less marks to ascertain them to belong to such writers, than this has of being the genuine work of Solomon?” This is what they plausibly urge in behalf of this opinion. But to these reasons it may be replied, that if this work was really Solomon’s, and was in He- brew in the time of the LXX interpreters, the Jews would not have forgot, or neglected it as they have done, nor excluded it their canon. It is entirely unknown in that language to Jose- phus, Philo, St Jerom, and Origen; so that in all appearance it never was in that language. Add to this, that the turn of the phrase and expressions are in the manner of the Greeks, and very different from the genius of the Hebrew tongue. The author quotes the Scripture in it accord- ing to the LXX, and borrows passages from books, which were not wrote till a long time after Solomon. To pretend that the Jews have suppressed the original, out of hatred to the Christians, who make use of its authority to convince them, that they have accomplished, in the murder of our Saviour, what was foretold of him in this book, is to advance what is incredible, and raising an objection which has been an hundred times confuted, and more difficult to maintain, than what they would avoid by this plea. For could the Jews have suppressed it, if they would? And if they could, what service would that have done them, since they have leit it us in Greek, with so many other books, as strong at least as this, to establish the truth of our religion ? The authority of the fathers is decisive, to prove a point of faith, and the authenticalness of any text; but then their testimony must be constant and uniform; but, in a matter of criticism, and where their judgments are divided, their opinion does not always determine the case. Now here the ancients do not speak in an uniform manner, some absolutely deny Solomon to be the author, others speak doubtfully, and none affirm it in express words. They cite indeed this work according to.the usage of the church, which comprehends under the name of the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon, not only Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but also this book and that of Ecclesi- xiv CALMET’S PREFACE: which are the bulwarks of our cause: they must overthrow all these, before they will be able to- reach us. The prophecies which are to be met with in this book, and which have been acknowledged as such by the fathers, are still further proofs of its canonicalness. All that is mentioned here of the future downfal of idolatry, and of the terrible judgments which. God will inflict upon the wicked, may be considered as a true prophecy. Se But the place upon which the ancients have fixed’ with most attention, is, where the author de- scribes the punishments of the just man, in terms so resembling the sufferings of Jesus Christ,. that Grotius imagines these passages to have been added to the book by some Christian interpo- lator, after the death of our Saviour ; which is not at all probable, as they are so linked and.:inter- woven with the context, that they are not to be separated without manifest violence. The fathers. had quite a different opinion of them, and have made use of them against Jews and heathens, and snewn the complete accomplishment of them in the person of Jesus Christ, The Jews themselves do not absolutely reject this book ; [ have before observed, that a learned: Rabbi quotes a passage from it in his preface to the Pentateuch. John Picus of Mirandola asserts, that the Jews read a book of wisdom in Hebrew, composed, as they thought, by Solomon, as the marrow and quintessence of the law of Moses. But it is very different front this book. Isidore, Sixtus of Sienna, Christopher a-Castre, Gonsalve a Cervantes, Lorin, in. their prefaces to this book,, maintain that it was written at first in Hebrew, and afterwards translated into Greek ; many affirm,, that it was written by Solomon, and translated after into Greek by the LXX. But these last opinions go too far. If the Jews were acquainted with, and read this book, it must have been. translated into their language from the Greek, and we must indeed agree that they never received: it as canonical. council of Basil, then sitting, condemned this of Florence as a schismatical assembly. And the Greeks, as soon as they were returned, and got to Constantinople, would stand to nothing that their own fears and the Pope’s. persuasion had before led them into.. See Coslin’s Schol. Hist. sect. 160. The last is the famous decree of the council. of Trent, wherein forty-three, or.some few persons more, were- only assembled, and cursed: all other persons in the. world that did not. receive their new canon of scripture in ara manner and form as they were then first pleased to appoint it. To establish this cecumenical decree, as. they most unwarrantably called it, of the Greek church they had not one; of the English as few; of the Hel- vetian, German, and northern churches none ; of the French scarce two ; of the Spanish.not many. All the rest were Italians, and they in no great number ; among whom some were the Pope’s pensioners,.and sent thither to: overbalance the votes of others, many of them titular, and some unlearned. And was it ever heard in the world before, that forty. bishops of Italy, assisted, perhaps, with half a score others, should make up a general council for all Christendom ? (See Coslin’s Scho}. Hist. sect. 194.) Wherein, as there was not any. one greatly remark. able for learning, that voted the canonical authority of the apocryphal books, which the eastern and western. churches ever held as suspected and uncertain ; so some of them, (as Father Paul observes, whose testimony, upon this occasion, must be allowed of great weight, and less exceptionable) were lawyers, eminent perhaps in their own profession, but of little skill and understanding in controverted points of religion; and such divines as were- among them were of low parts, and less than ordinary sufficiency. The greater number were courtiers, and: bishops of such small-places, or dignities only titular, that supposing every one to represent the clergy and pea- ple from whence he came, it could not be said that one-in a thousand, in Christendom, was represented in this. pretended council. See Brent’s Transl. of the Hist. of the Council of Trent, B. ii..p. 153. I mentioned just above, that the eastern and western churches looked upon the apocryphal books as suspected and uncertain. Those that are curious may see this matter very minutely discussed by a particular detail of the sentiments of the- several churches, extracted chiefly from the writings of the bishops that presided over the respective sees, which Episcopius has happily executed, Instit. Theol. lib. iii. c. 7. in such a clear manner, and so exact a method as to time, place, and persons, that we see the judgment of these two great.ecclesiastical bodies, as it were Pi one view, and without any confusion or perplexity.. : “dt [4] This may be disproved by almost an infinity of testimonies in Bishop Cosin’s Scholastica by an historical disquisition of the universal tradition of the church of God, unanimously delivered in all ages from the apostles times (and before) to ours, and by a very. particular enumeration of the testimonies of the ancient ec- clesiastical writers through the several centuries, it appears, that neither the ancient fathers, bishops,nor ecclesiastical writers, taught or believed otherwise than we now. hold : So that it seems strange that so learned a writer as Calmet should either be so greatly deceived in a paint of such consequence, or one in other respects.so fair and candid should knowingly triumph in false evidence and unsupported authorities : Nor is it less strange that he should not give the incomparable book of. this prelate a place in his Bibliotheca Sacra, as the nature of that work requir.” ed; but we may suppose that he either did not know it, being written in English, or did not care to have it known and read, the answers of it being so cogent against the Romanists, and the book itself the strongest bul. wark of the Protestant cause in this controverted point. betwixt us,. 1 History, wherein, . CALMET'’S DISSERTATION UPON THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK OF WISDOM. TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. F the dispute which hath been raised about the author of the Book of Wisdom, was only among Catholic writers, and all parties were agreed upon its canonicalness, and the inspiration of the author, we should have given ourselves no more trouble about this, than some others of the sacred books, whose canonicalness is acknowledged by all the churches, even those which are separated from our communion, though the writers of them are doubtful and unknown. When once it is agreed that the Holy Spirit is the original author of a book, one need not be so solici- tous who the person employed as the instrument is. But in the question before us, many of those who dispute about the writer of this work, attempt to destroy its authority, and, by diminishing the credit of its author, would take the liberty to reject it as apocryphal. To oppose this is the design of the present dissertation ; wherein we shall endeavour to shew, that though the author of the Book of Wisdom be not certainly known, the book itself does not cease, on that account, to be authentic, inspired, canonical, Many Catholic writers suppose the author of this book to be Solomon himself. ‘“ He wrote it, say they, in Hebrew, from whence it was translated into Greek by the Seventy Interpreters, to- gether with the other works of that prince: The ancient Fathers quote it often under his name, and it has generally that title in the Greek copies. The author plainly assumes this character throughout, and the true Solomon stands confessed in as clear a manner, as in any other of his books. Every body agrees, that it is not unworthy of his consummate wisdom, and high reputa- tion ; and that his sentiments and maxims are comprized in it: That though this piece is not now to be met with in the Hebrew, it cannot be concluded from thence, that it was never wrote in that language: For how many works have we in the versions and translations only, the originals of which are not now to be found? And how many are ascribed to particular authors, as indis- putably theirs, which have less marks to ascertain them to belong to such writers, than this has of being the genuine work of Solomon?” This is what they plausibly urge in behalf of this opinion. But to these reasons it may be replied, that if this work was really Solomon’s, and was in He- brew in the time of the LXX interpreters, the Jews would not have forgot, or neglected it as they have done, nor excluded it their canon. It is entirely unknown in that language to Jose- phus, Philo, St Jerom, and Origen ; so that in all appearance it never was in that language. Add to this, that the turn of the phrase and expressions are in the manner of the Greeks, and very different from the genius of the Hebrew tongue. The author quotes the Scripture in it accord- ing to the LXX, and borrows passages from books, which were not wrote till a long time after Solomon. To pretend that the Jews have suppressed the original, out of hatred to the Christians, who make use of its authority to convince them, that they have accomplished, in the murder of our Saviour, what was foretold of him in this book, is to advance what is incredible, and raising an objection which has been an hundred times confuted, and more difficult to maintain, than what they would avoid by this plea. For could the Jews have suppressed it, if they would ? And if they could, what service would that have done them, since they have leit it us in Greek, with so many other books, as strong at least as this, to establish the truth of our religion ? The authority of the fathers is decisive, to prove a point of faith, and the authenticalness of any text; but then their testimony must be constant and uniform; but, in a matter of criticism, and where their judgments are divided, their opinion does not always determine the case. Now here the ancients do not speak in an uniform manner, some absolutely deny Solomon to be the author, others speak doubtfully, and none affirm it in express words. ‘They cite indeed this work according to.the usage of the church, which comprehends under the name of the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon, not only Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but also this book and that of Ecclesi- XVi ' CALMET'S DISSERTATION. asticus. The title of the book, in the Greek copies, is no stronger an argument than the name of King, which this author assumes in the body of the work, or the port and appearance of Solo- mon, with which he would set himself off. ‘The ancients often call their books by the names of persons whom they introduce speaking; as Plato gives to his dialogues the names of Socrates, Timeus, Protagoras ; and Cicero, to his book of Famous Orators, that of Brutus, and to another that of Hortensius. Xenophon too calls the history, in which he gives the model of a complete prince, by the name of Cyrus, who is the principal character drawn in it. But nobody will say, that these pieces were written’ by those whose names they bear, for it is known and con- fessed on all hands, that it wis Plato, Cicero, Xenophon, who wrote them under such fictitious names. St Jerom says expressly, that the book of the Wisdom of Solomon carries a false and borrowed title. ; se F The Resemblance that is to be found in the thoughts and expressions of this book with those of Solomon, is so far from proving him to be the writer of it, that it furnishes a strong ay pent to the contrary. This prince would never have copied froth himself, nor have repeated here, what he had already said in some other work ; nor would he have cited passages from Isaiah and Jeremiah, who lived so long after him. We do not design or endeavour to decry the book, or to diminish its real worth and value ;. we readily own, that it is not unworthy of the wisdom of So- Jomon himself, and we have given it an author more great and noble than that prince. It is the Holy Spirit, which inspired this writer, as he did Solomon. I shall not repeat here, what I have said elsewhere, with respect to some terms used in this book, which are borrowed from the hea- ‘thens, such as Ambrosia, the river of forgetfulness, or Lethe, the kingdom of Pluto or Hades, &c. These fables are apparently of later date than Solomon, as well as the chaplets and crowns of roses, mentioned ch. ii. 8. ; : St Austin was. once of opinion, that Jesus the son of Sirach was the author of the books of Wis- dom and Ecclesiasticus ; but he did not long continue under that mistake, he recants as to the Book of ‘Wisdom, Retract. lib. ii. cap. 4. and, without explicitly saying who is the author, owns that it is more probable that Jesus the son of Sirach did not write it: He says in another place, that it was by no means likely to be wrote by Sulomon ; but he does not doubt, but that it, and. Ecclesiasticus were both written by inspiration [e]. And he elsewhere observes, that the primi- tive writers of the church, nearest the times of the Apostles, fetched proofs from this book, as being of divine authority ; that there can be no pretence for not receiving it, and placing it in the rank with the other scriptures. St Jerom informs us, that some ancient writers ascribed the Book of Wisdom to Philo the Jew, which words have afforded much matter of dispute to authors that came after. Some have look-. ed upon it as a dangerous opinion, which tends to destroy the whole authority of the book, by ascribing it toa Jewish writer, and one who was never reckoned inspired. Others have adopted him without any limitation, but the greater part add this restriction, that the Philo, whom St Jerom mentions, is not that Philo whose writings we have, who is commonly known by the name of Philo the Jew, but some other more ancient. For they pretend that there were several authors of this name; the first, as they say, lived under Ptolemy Philadelphus, and was one of the seventy interpreters ; the second is Philo of Biblos, who is cited by Eusebius and Josephus; the third is Philo'the Jew ; the fourth is one who lived under the second temple, and wrote a book about tlie soul. : The first Philo is unknown to antiquity, nor is there any reason to place him in the time of Ptolemy and the LXX interpreters. In all appearance there never was such an author, since he * is not mentioned by any ancient writer. ‘The second was a Pagan, a native of Biblos, who tran- slated the history of Phoenicia into Greek. Josephus places him in the same rank with Deme- trius and Eupolemus, who, not being of the Jewish religion, could not have acquired a sufficient knowledge of their books, to give any true and just idea of their history, and can, with less reason be supposed to be the author of sacred and prophetic books. ‘The next then is the famous Philo, the Jew of Alexandria, who lived in the first age of the church, and was deputed, by ‘the Jews . of that place, to the Emperor Caius, about the year 40 of the common era. He wrote many {<] See this confuted by St Austin, De Civit. Dei, lib. xv. c. 23. lib. xvii. c. 20. lib. xviii. c. 38. and many other places, which will serve likewise for an answer to what immediately follows from St Austin. _ CALMET'S DISSERTATION, XV. books in his youth, but, in the latter part of his time, was employed in public and national af- fairs; and was of great service to his countrymen. Eusebius and St Jerom write, that, in a second embassy which he was sent upon to the Emperor Claudius, he contracted an acquaintance and friendship with St Peter. Photius says, that he even embraced Chiristianity, but quitted it again out of discontent or disgust. Josephus mentions him as a very considerable person. His works are in a style admirable for its beauty and plainness, but his method of expounding scripture is allegorical. Photius thinks, that it was from him the custom was first introduced into the church of explaining the scriptures allegorically, and it is certain that some of the fathers have followed his method.—As to Philo’s being a Christian, that opinion is now exploded by all learned men, as well as his pretended intimacy with St Peter. There are four ways to judge whether Philo, to whom many of the ancients have ascribed this book, be really the author of it. 1. A conformity of sentiments and method. 2. A re- semblance of style. 3. An agreement with the person and character of Philo, and the times wherein he lived. 4. The authority of those writers who have ascribed this book to him.. We shall examine these particulars in their order. The author of the Book of Wisdom, represents God as the Creator and Preserver of all things, of infinite wisdom and justice, anc whose providence watches over and extends unto all his works. A God who aims only at the good of his creatures, who created therm originally pure and innocent, and does not proceed to punish them till their wickedness is incorrigible, and at its full height ; who is the author of true wisdom, and all other blessings, and communicates them freely to such as.sincerely ask for them. Philo agrees inall these sentiments ; but as this is nothing extraordinary in a Jewish writer, I shall not stop to draw the parallel, which would be of no service here. ; The soul of man, according to the Book of Wisdom, isimmortal, and linked to a corruptible body, the weight of which draws it to the earth, and pvesses it downwards; it is capable of eternal happiness, but when it gives itself up to the pursuit of sin and wickedness, it brings up- on itself punishments and misery without end ; it is inexcusable, when it continues ignorant of: its Creator, who is so loudly proclaimed by his works. Philo says much the same, ‘ That the soul of man is clothed with the body as with a garment, but that of a wise man with his vir- tues ;” and in another place, ‘“* That while we continue in this world, we are in a state of pil- grimage; but a wise man looks upon himself, when in the body and upon the earth, as. in some: strange place, considering heaven as his enly true country, and his proper native lace.” : Philo supposes two sorts of souls, some of which descend into, and inhabit bodies, and others are ata great distance and very remote. Of those that enter into bodies and continue there, some apply themselves to, and are trained up in a philosophy wholly sublime, which, after the death of the body, they continue to pursue, to purchase a life eternal and incorruptible ; The other sort, overwhelmed with the weight of the Mesh, neglect the study of wisdom, and giving themselves up to the caprice of fortune, are attached to things sensible and corporeal, to the pursuit of vanity, glory, riches, &ce. which very much resembles what the author of the Book of Wisdom, speaking in the person of Solomon, says, ch. viii. 19, 20. * That he had a good spirit,” or rather, ‘ that, being good, he came into a body undefiled,” wherein he supposes a. pre-existence of souls, some good, others wicked, not by nature, or through any fate or necessity, but voluntarily and. by. inclination, which is certainly the opinion of Philo ia. many places. The high encomiums this author gives of wisdom are likewise to be met with in Philc, who says, ‘‘ That she is a pure gift from the bounty of God, who communicates her to souls well disposed, which love contemplation ; that she existed before all ages, and by her the world itself was created ; that she is as the mother, and God the father of it; that the wise a- lone are truly worthy to reign, to have command. and sovereignty ; and only these are truly rich; that wisdom is all divine, and nothing more easy to be acquired, being always ready to communicate herself; that she never shuts her school, but is willing and disposed to receive those who desire instruction. These she enchants, and as it were inebriates, with sweet and agreeable draughts of her doctrines, she invites them to come and improve themselves by her lessons, and promises them infinite advantages ae blessings.” According to Philo, kings should xviii CALMET’S DISSERTATION: distinguish themselves by their wisdom: and their ambition, happiness, and glory should i tre in this, That a prince should be well versed and instructed, not only in-human and secular affairs, but likewise in spiritual and divine, and should appear to his subjects as an animated oracle and a living law ; which agrees admirably with the idea which the wise man here gives of a perfect and consummate prince. An a. The author of this book speaks of she Word, or the Word of the Lord, as a distinct person from him that generated and sent him. He ascribes to him divine attributes, particularly omni- potence. It was this Word which fed the Israelites in the wilderness, cured the bitings of the serpents, slew the first-born of the Egyptians, and, in fine, created the world. Philo resembles our author more on this head, than in any other particular; and some have pre- tended, that he had even knowledge of that divine Word, of which St John speaks in the begin- ning of his gospel ; and others have advanced, but against all reason, that. this holy Evangelist took his doctrine and expressions from him. He says, that the invisible Word which creat- ed all things is the express image of God, above all the world, more ancient than it, and sus perior to all creatures. That this Word was employed to separate and divide the elements, and to range all the parts and matter of the universe into form and order according to his own will. That this Word was begotten of God, was the creator of the universe, and has a dominion and sovereignty over all the kingdoms of the world. In speaking of Isaac, he says, that. this patriarch never departed from his duty to God, but that he attached himself to the Word, that divine Mediator, which instructs us in those things which are best for us and came down to, and condescended to converse with us, to teach us what is most con- venient and proper for us in all circumstances; for, continues he, God disdains not to be known to, and intimate with such as love virtue, and sends his Word to support and succour them, The punishment and sufferings of the wicked in another life, and the rewards and glory: of the righteous are admirably described in the Book of Wisdom; Philo speaks of them in as plain and distinct a manner. He says, that the elements, the air, fire, and water, all conspire to the punishment of the wicked, God, by his Almighty power, employing those very things, which he designed for the benefit and use of man, as his instruments and scourges to punish ‘the ingratitude and wickedness of his creatures. He observes, speaking of Cain, that men ima- gine temporal death to be the greatest of all misfortunes, not reflecting upon the terrible tri- bunal of the sovereign judge which will succeed, with respect to which, ‘in the judgment of God himself, death may be considered only as the commencement of their misery. And what is their misery ? lt is to live, as continually dying, or rather to'be dying always without ceas- ing to live—A death always renewing, and in some sense immortal. or there are two sorts-of death, the first is that of the body, which is an indifferent thing, it-may be either.good or bad; but the second is, to die without ceasing, the greatest and most terrible of all calamities -and misfortunes, ‘ _ He says, in another place, that the wicked are always dead, though they should chance to live even to extreme old age, and that the righteous, on’ the contrary, ‘though dead and -de- parted this life, through bodily sufferings, are really living, and enjoy -a life permanent, and without end and he instances in Nadab and Abihu, who being dead betimes, enjoy .immerta- lity, and a life incorruptible before God [ f ]. He elsewhere observes, ‘that long life does not consist in a number of years, but in a course of goodness, expressions ‘exactly agreeing with these of the book of Wisdom. ‘ Though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he Ra a a gS ash cg ee [fj Calmet here translates Philo literally ; the passage referred to is in his treatise, De Profugis. Nadas 5 Abid, tue Cacwor cemobmoxuas, Srflis (on KD Ve lov ceFlaxotlemuctlopeves Brovy x awd TH yevoety wees tTe&yingloy Hilevesecset- sor iD Oy re cvmoorad Fis kPbecgcres woe), 70, TS redsirncay tvwmtoy Kxgie, teélisw newer It is surprising, that Philo should produce these two persons as an instance of rewarded piety, who died, by the immediate judgment of God; b an extraordinary visitation from heaven, for offering strange fire before the Lord, Lev. x. 1. Had they died inf: stantly, when they had the honour to be called up to God, and to have a sight of him, and to eat and drink in: his presence when he appeared on mount Sinai, Exod. xxiv. 9, 10, 11. they. might have.been thought to have died in God’s embraces, as some of the Rabbins have asserted of Moses. ‘Ehis mistake seems to atise from his alle. gorical manner of interpretation. When the text says, “ They died before the Lord,” he rendere, nosy, though the phrase has a quite different meaning in that place. See Patr. in Levit..x. Philo has the same thought, in lib. Quis Rerum Divin. Hares. me - OF paiv isgcig CALMET’S DISSERTATION. xix bein rest; for honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor is measured by the number of years; but wisdom is grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. That God took his beloved [Enoch] from the world in the flower of his age, lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul; and that being made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled a Jong time, or had all the real advantages of old age.”” Chap. iv. 7, 8, 9, 11, 13. What the writer-of tte Book of Wisdom says of idolatry and idolators, in the thirteenth chap- ter, is so like what we find in Philo in the beginning of his treatise, De Monarch, that one per- ceives- plainly. that they had both the same sentiments, and did not copy the one from the other. They both shew the folly and. mistake of those who deified the stars, instead of exalting their hearts, and paying their devotions to him who is the great Creator and Ruler of them. In his Piece upon the Decalogue, there is a passage entirely agreeable to that of Wisdom, chap. xv. 15. where the ridiculousness of those pretended deities is exposed, which ** neither have the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath, nor ears to hear, nor fingers of hands to handle, and as for their feet they are slow to go.’’ There is no end of multiplying instances of the agreement between Philo and the Book of-Wisdom ; but these that we have produced, may be sufiicient to shew the conformity of their sentiments. Let us now examine the facts mentioned by the author of the Book of: Wisdom, which seem to differ from the account of Moses. Philo speaking of Joseph, says, that he was made viceroy, or, to speak more properly, king of Egypt. Aud in the description of the plagues of that coun- try, he says, that in the parts beyond Memphis there is no rain, nor do they know what winter is. But at the command of Moses, nature changed her appearance, and the air assumed new qualities; and thunder, lightning, hail, and rain were as dreadfully and sensibly felt there, as in other regions. And what was very particular, the water did not extinguish the fire in the lightning, nor the fire melt and dissolve the hail; a reflection which the author of the Book of Wisdom likewise makes in several parts of that work. Philo remarks, that, during the darkness in Egypt, which lasted three days, no fire could be kindled there, the thickness of the fog extinguished it immediately ; which is agreeable to our author’s account. With respect to manna, the expressions. of both are very much alike. Ac- cording to Philo, it isa nourishment produced without the labour-of man, sent purposely from heaven, and, in a figurative sense, is the wisdom of God, his word, or commazidment; which is very like what Moses says, on this occasion,.* that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord,” Deut. viii. 3.. He explains, .in an allegori- cal manner, the vestments of the high priest, and, like our author, supposes them to be symbo- lical of the universe; that the habit in general represents the whole world, and each particular answers to, and expresses the several principal parts of-it.: the long robe of an azure colour, is an emblem .of the. air; the pomegranates at the bottom represent the water; the ornaments, or flowers, denote the earth.; and the bells, the harmony, which is in the several parts of it, from whence the union of the system proceeds. The Hebrew text.spcaks only of the pomegranates and bells, but Philo follows the seventy, who seem, Exod. xxviii. 33. to mention flowers. All this is agreeable to, and an-explanation of what our author says in fewer words, “ that in the - long garment was the.whole world,”’ ch. xviii. 24. One thing is very observable, that Philo doth not copy the very words of the Book of Wisdom, as he would have done, if he had designed to quote or use it, as the work of another writer. He . follows in general the same method, the same sentiments, the same thoughts, but in different terms ; as when one and the same author expresses himself upon particular points in: different works. From this very great likeness and conformity of opinions, many of the.ancients have concluded Philo to be the author of the Book of Wisdom.. : The difference ofthe style,of Philo, and that.of the Book of ‘Wisdom, is one of the strongest arguments against: his being the real author; but the ancients, who were as good judges as the moderns upon this head, it is manifest, laid no great stress upon the difference of style, since it did not hinder them from ascribing this book, notwithstanding, to Philo. And, in spite of the diver- - sity of.style, one may observe in several parts of this book, the pompous turns of Philo, his exu- berance in epithets, and his rich vein displayed by many lively and pathetic descriptions. But as he wrote it under the borrowed name. of Solomon, he might disguise his style a little, and appear more sententious in this book, than in his other works: this probably is the true reason of the dif... 9 ee XX CALMET'’S DISSERTATION. ference of style, it proceeds from the matter and subject itself. For let the same person write art oration, lessons of morality, an epistle, or a poem, will not a great variety of style necessarily arise from these different characters, though they are all penned, and proceed from one and the same author ? ' at Ah ; _ ‘Though the book we are speaking of affords but few hints whereby to form a judgment of the time and place in which it was wrote; yet, as glimmering as the light is, it may be sufficient to give us some idea of both. The author lived in an idolatrous country, and most probably in Egypt, since upon all occasions he inveighs against the ridiculous idolatry of the Egyptians, which consisted in paying adoration to water, fire, serpents, and other beasts the most frightful and mischievous. He lived at a time when the Jews had a great aversion to idolatry, he speaks of its origin; and that one cause of it was the grief of a tender parent for a deceased child, which at Jength terminated in paying divine honours to him. This remark is more applicable to Egypt than any other country, upon account of that great respect which the Egyptians are remarkable for paying to their dead; and because it is certain, that Isis and Osiris, the first deities of this country, had the sovereignty of Egypt, and the former appointed divine honours to the body of her deceased husband. He speaks likewise of the Jews being held in subjection, and persecuted under some idolatrous princes, which agrees very well with the times of Philo, when the Jews suffered greatly, both in. Judea and in Egypt, from the Roman emperors, their deputies, and | even the people themselves. ; If he wrote it after the death of Jesus Christ, who could not be unknown to him, it is not im. probable that he had him in view, when he describes the just man, as reviled, persecuted, and at length put to death; and that seeing the beginning and first essays of Christianity, and the miracles which accompanied the first preaching of the gospel, he foretold the approaching ruin of idolatry. In fine, living under idolatrous and cruel emperors, it is probable he might direct his instructions to them under the person of Solomon, and the more effectually to execute his design, purposely disguised his style to give his work a greater air of antiquity, and to add the more weight to it. And it may be questioned whether it would have been even safe for him at that time in the very heart of Alexandria, to have addressed a book in Greek to princes, wherein idolatry is condemned in such a bold and open manner; but by concealing himself and writings under the fictitious name of Solomon, he avoided all danger. “ When St Jerom tells us, that some of the ancients ascribed this book to Philo the Jew, he meant, no doubt, Philo of Alexandria, for at that time no other of the name was known. And as the ancients, whom he cites, are the first that acquaint us whom the church attributed this work to, their judgment ought to be of great weight; and so much the more, as since that time no one has been assigned in particular as the undoubted author of it. Truths of this nature are gene- rally the more certain, the nearer they approach to the fountain-head: now in the time of those ancients whom St Jerom mentions, this tradition must have been very fresh, and it might have been a received notion in the church, even from the times of the apostles ; the great commenda- tions which the ancients give of Philo, shew the high’ idea they had of his merit. We have before mentioned, that Eusebius, St Jerom, and others, believed him to have been a Christian ; the former asserts, that he was perfectly acquainted with all that related to the doctrine and the laws of his ancestors ; he extols his eloquence, the loftiness of his thoughts and sentiments, his exact under- standing of the scripture, and his explications of the sacred books. And if St Jerom, Eusebius, and others who have drawn up the catalogue of Philo’s works, have not inserted the Book of Wisdom’ in the number, the reason was.either that since their time it has been questioned, or that being received by the generality of churches as an inspired book, it was not proper to range it among the works of a Jewish author. This is what may be plausibly urged in favour of Philo, but this alone will not be sufficient to induce us to ascribe this work to him, there will always be an invincible argument to the contrary, cz. his religion. Philo died in Judaism many years after the death of Christ : and if he was acquainted with the truths of the gospel, he has not done that justice, or given that ho- nour to it which he ought. It is not therefore probable, that the Holy Spirit should speak b the mouth of such a person, or that the church should adopt, or receive as an inspired book. the work of an unconverted Jew. This reason, it must be confessed, is of no force against those who do not look upon the Book of Wisdom as canonical. But there are other reasons CALMET’S DISSERTATION. xxi which hinder us from ascribing this book to Philo. 1. The difference of style. 2. The silence of the ancients, as Eusebius, St Jerom himself, Photius, Suidas, and others, who have not placed this book among those of Philo. 5. The passages of this book quoted in the gospels, and the epistles written either before Philo could write this work, or a very litle time after. ‘There remains then only in his favour tradition, and that but indifferently supported, and a confor- mity of sentiments, which is not so peculiar to Philo, but the like may be found in Job, Pro- verbs, Plato, Ecclesiasticus, and in the books of Maccabees. In these we meet with, likewise, the punishments of the wicked after this life, and the future rewards and happiness of the righteous ; one finds wisdom represented there as co-eternal with God, and the Word, as Al- mighty, Omniscient, Creator, Preserver ; as instructing, punishing, rewarding. These notions were common at that time among the Jews, and who can be.certain that Philo himself did not take these from the books we have just quoted ? Origen has nothing certain about the author of this book, no more than the other fathers whieh follow him. All then that can be concluded from what we have said is, that Philo was manifestly of the same principles with the author of this book, had the same inethod, and most of his sentiments ; that he wrote in Egypt, and is not very ancient, since it is indisputable that he lived after the version of the LAX. If we should attempt to reckon up the differences between the Book of Wisdom and Philo, a very considerable number perhaps might be pro- duced ; the former sets down ten months as the ordinary time for the birth of children; the latter only seven, asserting that children born after that time, suppose in the cighth month, are not commonly long-lived, or born to be happy. Philo also differs trom the author of the book of Wisdom in what he says of the creation of man, and his likeness and resemblance of God. Ac- cording to the latter, man was created in the similitude and image of God, immortal and in- nocent, his body formed out of the earth, and will return to earth again, as his soul will like- wise to God after death from whom it originally proceeded: Philo makes the resemblance be- tween God and man to consist in the soul, which God himself created in the beginning, and filled with inclinations for its welfare and happiness ; but adds at the same time, that he called evil angels to assist at the formation of man, who were the authors of those bad dispositions observable in him ; which includes that dangerous opinion of two different independent princi- ples, which the Manichees afterwards abused in so strange a manner. Grotius is of opinion, that the book of Wisdom is the work of a Jew, who wrote it in He- brew after the time of Esdras, and before the pontificate of the high priest Simon, and that for this reason it is placed before the book of Ecclesiasticus. It was translated, as he says, into Greek by some Christian author, who understood that language well enough, but took great liberties in his translation, without confining himself to the words of his original, and even added some strokes and sentiments taken from Christianity. Hence, he says, it proceeds that the universal judgment is taken notice of there, the happiness of the righteous, and the punish- inent of the wicked, in a manner more distinct and clear, than we observe generally in the books of the ancient Lcbrews. These are the sentiments of Grotius, but there is. scarce any part of this hypothesis but wants proof, It is mere guess-work, to pretend that this book was originally wrote in Hebrew, neither Jews nor ancient Christian writers have either seen or known it in that language. If it was really wrete in it, would the Jews ever have suffered it to be lost ? Or are there any foot- steps of Hebraisms and a forcign construction, discoverable in the Greek translation? Those Christian sentiments, which Grotius thought to be foisted into it: by the translator, are to be found in the books of Maccabees, and in Philo, and some of them even in Plato. ‘Ihe two former, as likewise lcclesiasticus, speak very clearly of the everlasting happiness of the just, and the eternal punishments appointed for the wicked. Are we therefore permitted to say, that these books likewise have been corrupted by Christians, who have artfully conveyed their maxims and sentiments into them ? That admirable description of the just man, ch. ii. afflicted and tortured with a variety of wretchedness, do we not mect with: it in the writings of Plato, lib. ti. De Rep.? From whence Cicero and Seneca both manifestly took it. It is well known how the ancient Greeks, and even the Jewish writers, were attached to the doctrine of tnat philosopher, and why might not this writer think it proper to preserve, and eyen consecrate xxii CALMET’S DISSERTATION. such a fine thought, and put it in its full light and beauty in this divine work, and hereby — truth at liberty, and give it a freer circulation, which before was, as it were, a prisoner, and: confined to the heathen writings ? Does not St Paul himself sometimes. borrow the thoughts, and even the words of profane authors ? ; ; ; ; Cornelius a Lapide believes, that the Book of Wisdom was written in Greek by a Jewish au. thor, after the return from the Babylonish captivity, and about the time. of Ptolemy. Philadel-. phus. He even suspects that it might be one of the scventy interpreters that wrote it for the. use of that king; the book being calculated, as has been before observed, for the. instruction of. princes: for Aristeas relates, that Philadelphus proposed to every one of these interpreters, some. question concerning the good government of his dominions. He adds, that.the opinion which, ascribes this book to Philo, might easily have obtained by the following equivocal terms: Solo- mon had two names, Solomon and Jedidiah, the last of which signifies the friend of God, and-in Greek, Philo or Philos signifies a friend; and the rabbins, when they quote Philo, give him the name of Jedidiah, and so people have been led into a mistake to imagine Philo the Jew was meant, when Solomon only was intended under his other name. ie But these are conjectures without any certain proof. We will ingeniously acknowledge that this matter is dubious, and that the author of the Book of Wisdom is uncertain and unknown, but it is nevertheless canonical and divine, since it contains in it all that is necessary to deserve that title ; it abounds with useful and solid instructions, and paints Jesus Christ and his suffer-. ings ina heavenly manner, and the truths recorded in it, are as comfortable to the good and righ- teous, as they are dreadful to the wicked and the sinner:. And, besides, the church has received. and acknowledged it, as sacred and canonical. It is certain that the author lived after the LXX, since -he cites their text even when they. depart from the Hebrew. He wrote at a time when allegories were much in vogue, and ap-. pears to have read the writings of the philosophers and Greek.poets. From these circumstances we are of opinion, that this author cannot be very ancient. He seems to. be later than the wri-. ter of Ecclesiasticus, whom we. have fixed to the times of Ptolemy Epiphanes in Egypt, and. Antiochus Epiphanes in Syria. And if this be.so, our author should have lived, under. the BOs. vernment, of the Maccabees. , PREFACE "THE book of Ecclesiasticus, according to some writers, is so called, because tise ancicnts divid- ed the books of the Old Testament volume into four sorts ; the first contained the Pentateuch the second the Prophets, the third the Hagiographa, the fourth the Ecclesiastical, or Apocryphat Books, as not being in the Jewish canon. Among the Ecclesiastical books, this of Jesus ihe son of Sirach, being most remarkable and useful, it was xal’ %Zoxiv called Ecclesiasticus, whilst the rest of the same class have lost their name. According to others, this title was given by the Latins to it, to denote its use in the church, its being read for the sake of edification in the public religi- ous assemblies: or lastly, because, like Solomon’s Ecclesiastes, which it resembles in name, as well as matter, it teaches and instructs such as attend to it by the admirable precepts which 1t delivers, and the earnest and frequent exhortations therein to wisdom, which in these sapiential books is another word for religion. in the printed Greek copies it is improperly styled, The Wis- dom of Sirach, which is an abbreviation made with great absurdity, for it ascribes the book to Sirach, who was neither the author, nor the translator of it, and therefore could neither way have any relation to it. It is more usually and properly called The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, because wisdom, in some branch or other of it, is the subject of the whole book. The author opens his work with the eulogium of wisdom in general; then he enters into a va- riety of useful particulars, and continues to deliver many important precepts and instructive lessons, for the right conduct of life, to ch. xxiv. where wisdom is supposed to speak herself in person, and by the most engaging persuasive motives, which are continued to ch. xlii. 15. in- vites men to the practise of virtue, and the pursuit of what is lovely and of good report ; where his collection of wise sentences and proverbs ends. He then, by way of epilogue, solemnly en- ters upon a pious hymn, wherein he extols the works of God, his infinite wisdom and power dis-' played in them, and, in dwelling upon his praises, his rapture and transport is so great, that he exceeds himself, and almost what is human, in the sublimity of his sentiments: and at Jength finishes the whole with a panegyric, or solemn commemoration of the most celebrated worthies of his own nation, illustrious instances in their respective generations of the several virtues he has been recommending. Manifestly copying in this division, says Valesius, the method and or- der of Soiomon, and exhibiting, like him, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles, not in separate books indeed, but as parts of the same work. Not. ad Script. Eccl. Euseb. L. iv. c. 22. The ancients styled this book by the Greek name cavapélor, signifying that it treats of, and comprises, all sorts of virtues. And indeed it is a system of morality so full and comprehensive, as that there is scarce any virtue which this excellent piece does not recommend, and lay down rules for obtaining it ; nora vice, or indecorum, which it does not expose and discourage ; it forms the manners of persons of all ages, sexes, and conditions, by an infinity almost of useful maxims and instructions. One learns from it all the duties of religion and civil life, both what piety commands, and politeness and good-manners expect. Every one may here discover, so full and obvious is it, what he owes to God, to his country, his neighbourhood, his family, and to himself; how to behave in the different relations of life, either to superiors, or inferiors, friends, or ene- mies ; and so it may be thought, as indeed some have represented it, to comprize all the duties of both tables: For the precepts which it delivers, and the principal matters which it treats of, may be divided into four sorts, 1. Theological. 2. Political. 3. Economical. 4. Ethical, or rules respecting all sorts of men indifferently, however placed or circumstantiated. These four heads take in most, if not all, the maxims of this book, so that what lies dispersed in the great volumes of philosophers and moralists, is collected into a short compass, and to be found here as it Were In miniature; in short, the author has given us at once a whole treasury of wisdom, and with great profusion has intermixed reflections, counsels, exhortations, reproofs, examples, prayers, praises, &c. so that truth appears in different attitudes and forms, but beautiful and engaging under each, and shines with so complicated a lustre, as cannot but draw attention, and command XXIV PREFACE. , respect and admiration. But besides the excellent moral instructions here given, ee kee men have discovered in it certain vestiges af a more deep and recondite wisdom, and Pe eed 0 contain the more secret Solomoniac Wisdom. See Lee’s Dissert. on me second book hee a p. 32. which probably was taught in the schools of the eA a, a a the cessatio i. in those of the great doctors of the law, and interpreters of the sacre i ings. aesicall Pore It was composed originally for the use and advantage of those, who ae el A gu- late their lives agreeably to the laws of God ; with this view the grandson renc "ee ue reek, and with the same design has it been translated into many other eer = hig ern he ges. On the same account, as being an instructive manuel, and one or ie use : ie y- ing, has it met with general esteem, especially in the Western church, and introduce a our first reformers, and the venerable compilers of our articles, into the public service. Nor can ic fail of producing, in such as are well-disposed, those fruits, which one os er gathering from the knowledge of truth, when searched. after, not merely as matter of spectila- tion or curiosity, but with an honest intention to practise what it teaches. For this reason, as well as to enforce the author’s precepts, and make his design more useful and extensive, 1 have sometimes ventured beyond the common and literal sense, and have accommodated. a more exalted and spiritual one, extracted either from the valuable comment of Mess. of Port- Royal, or what occurred to me, and seemed naturally to arise from the text itself, and: might without violence be inferred from it: by this means | have brought home to Christians, what by this writer was originally directed to the Jews, and have assisted the reader to find out the dutics of the zew law, in the letter and precepts of the o/d one. a 2. There is one more excellency which I must not omit, which is common to this with the book of Proverbs, that the maxims are delivered in a way the most useful and beneficial, in such short and weighty apothegms, as may most strongly affect the mind, and yet not overcharge the memory ; a method in which the wisdom of the ancients thought it most proper to deliver the rites and mysteries of religion, as well as their civil laws and constitutions. For truths, which depend upon demonstration and a long and abstruse chain of reasoning, are not so ob-. vious to all capacities, as those which are couched in short memorial sentences, in expressive a- phorisms, in single, and often independent propositions, as all collections of proverbial and sen- tentious truths are, which being founded upon experience, and authorised by the observation. of others, are admitted as just and approved maxims, and as such successively handed down to. posterity ; and every age confirms, and finds the benefit of them. Though it is indubitably certain, that this beok, was not written by Solomon, who lived many, ages after, and there are in the work itself internal marks to disprove such a claim, yet it hath been ascribed to him, on account of the great resemblance of matter and style, and made by the Latin church to be one of his five books, as they are called, and is so quoted by several of” the fathers, and as such in most copies joined with them, and like them wrote stiche- wise in the: Alexandrian MS, and supposed, according to Epiphanius, to be written originally in metre,. St Jerom says, that he himself saw a Hlebrew copy of this work, not under the narne of Wis- dom, byt of parables, or proverbs, Preef. in Prov. Munster also, and Fagius mention others ;, but Scaliger, Drusius, and Huetius, think none of these to be the original, but either Ben Sira’s alphabet, or some late Hebrew version made from the Greek, such as that which appeared of the book of Tobit, which Fabricius mentions, Bibl. Gr. Tom. ¥. And indeed it must be ac- knowledged, that this book is composed very much in imitation of the Proverbs of Solomon, and very frequently alludes to, and copies from them ; hence by Athanasius, or the author of the anonymous Prologue, this writer is said to be éxadic re Sorouarloc, with this difference only, that the sentences of the Book of Proverbs are not so closely connected, especially from the tenth chapter of that work, as those of this writer, who more frequently ranges, under distinct heads, what he observes upon the same subject, and in the Roman edit. and some MSS. ‘Titles are occasionally prefixed to some chapters, denoting the contents of what follows, though even. this of our author might have been more perfect in this respect, as his’ reflections upon similar eccasions lie too much dispersed, and the distribution of chapters not regular, being proba- bly different collections by him, and not sorted so,orderly by the translator, as one might &x-~ pect, and as is intimated in the frst Prologue. °' \ are : , as We are therein informed, that the Hebrew Sirachides gathered many: grave and short sentences. PREF aA €e E. XXV of wise men that had been before him, some scattered ones, or remains probably of Solomon’s 3000 proverbs, 1 Kings iv. 32. successively delivered down. See Bartoloccius, Bibl. Rabbin. Tom. i. p. 249. Huetius, Dem. Evang. Prop. 4. Nor is it to be doubted, but that many useful maxims of other learned men, as well as some of his own, were added by the last Jesus, the son of Sirach, to his grandfather’s book, or from marginal additions of other men’s sayings of the like nature; which being too few to fill a book of themselves, and as other fugitive pieces liable to be lost, if not collected together, they were joined to this larger work of the same kind, to be ready at hand, when occasionally looked fer. Thus Solomon’s Proverbs were augmented with a new collection, by the men of Hezekiah, taken, as some imagine, from copies of Solomon’s Proverbs, with these sayings added, which therefore passed under the name of Solomon. Be that as it will, such books of Apothegms were made as it were heads of a common-place book, to which things of the same nature were reduced. So the ancient vocabularies have come to be en. riched with many new words, by their possessors in different successive ages. We cannot other- wise account for the variations in the several Greek copies of. Ecclesiasticus, and the translations of it, nor for the entire sentences, which are found in some, and wanting in other copies. And J hhave sometimes been inclined to think that text, chap. vi. 22. “ Wisdom is according to her name, and is not manifest unto many,” is one addition of the translator, where he derives the Greek word sop/a, from a Hebrew one, which signifies covered, or hid, which the elder Jesus, who . wrote:in Hebrew, could not do, but his grandson might, who was skilled in that, and the He- brew tongue. And the like probably may be observed of’ch. xliii. 8. as the reading is in all the present Greek copies. . The Hebrew Sirachides wrote his book in the language of the Jews of Jerusalem, such as was. used after their return from the captivity, probably either in the Chaldee dialect, or Syriac, as a manual for the Jews in Egypt. ‘The learned suppose the original work itself to have come down. imperfect, either through. the author’s death, or the loss of some part of it inEgypt. See Bishop Chandlet’s Vindic. of Def. p. $1 —85. which may perhaps account for the great incoherence, and abrupt transition. in-many places. We have no authentic monument whereby we can know how long the original was preserved:; it is supposed to have been lost, either in troublesome times, or dropt through disuse. ‘The Greek is the present and only original, and is the most early and authentic translation of this work, made for the use of the Jews in Egypt in their dispersion, who - had then almost all forgot their native tongue; and so this, as well as other books, not canonical in that language, might easily be lost. It seems to have been too Jiteral a translation, which often occasions, the sense to be either obscure, or deficient. ‘Ihe translator. himself has. the modesty to acknowledge, that he doubts he has failed in expressing the full spirit-of the then language; whe- ther it was the ancient and pure, or more modern and corrupt Hebrew, and ingenuously apolo- gizes for not coming up to the exact propriety, and expressiveness of the original ; which might indeed easily happen, as it has to the law and the prophets, which lose much of their energy, when attempted in another language, as is well urged in his favour in the second prologue. It is well if inaccuracy be his only fault; Drusius seems to think, that he bas sometimes actually mistaken the meaning of the original in some of the more obscure and intricate passages; and no wonder that this too should happen, for even the Greek version of the canonical books has often . stumbled on seemingly plain ground. There is a strange transposition of chapters in the best Greek copies of this book, from ch. xxx. to ch. xxxvi, to say nothing of whole sentences or verses so transposed, on which account the printed editions, as may well be expected, greatly differ from one another ; these, with the number of various readings, which Heschelins has collected with much exactness, and are chargeable chiefly on the carelessness of transcribers, shew the present state of it to be corrupt and mutilated. And with respect to the Greek translation itself, | am far from contending that the language is beautiful, or altogether correct. On the contrary, it does not always seem agreeable in consiruc- tion to the received rules of grammar ; and especially the uncommon use of the Greek particles, so frequently to be met with in it, has been objected to as harsh; but.these particularities, I con- ceive, mostly owing to the idiom of the Greek Macedonian language, and.are not so properly faults, as modes of that adopted tongue. But that it abounds with solecisms, as Camerarius, and others have charged it with, I cannot admit. For the Alexandrine Greek, in which dialect this bouk, as we at present have it,-undoubtedly was writtcn, however wide from the common and re~-. D XXV1 PREFACE. ceived way of writing, has yet, by some men of learning, been observed to concur with it very surprizingly, where one would not expect it. Hebraisms indeed often occur in the text, and so they do in the Greek one of the Old and New Testament; but they are not reckoned by the Ju- dicious faults or blemishes. Philo, I believe, is not oftener guilty of solecisms than-other Greek writers, nor the Christian fathers, who wrote in Egypt, nor do the LXX often transgress in this way, unless when the perplexity of the original, or their defect of understanding it, drove them accidently so to do, which perhaps may be the case of the translator of this book. = I have tefore intimated, that in his version he often uses the Macedonian Greek language ; for from the time of Alexander the Great, it is certain, the Jews began to Hellenize, and that the Greek tongue, spoken by the Macedonians, became more common among them. And indeed, it is no wonder that the Jews of Alexandria, to whom that monarch, and Ptolemy Soter, after his death, granted the same privileges with the Macedonians, and other Greeks, should, by their constant intercourse with the other citizens, among whom they were there mingled, be necessitated to learn, and constantly use the Greek language, and that that should happen to them here, as did before at Babylon on the like occasion, I mean that by accustoming themselves to a foreign language, they should forget their own. And this will appear the more probable, as we learn from Philo, Josephus, and the apocryphal writings, particularly the Books of Maccabees, Wisdom, and this of Ecclesiasticus, in which frequent allusion is made to Grecian rites and customs, that the Jews had learned their philosophy, and embraced several of their opinions, ever since their conversing with that people under Alexander the Great, the Ptolemies, and Seleucidz his suc- cessors, who reigned in Egypt and Syria. The old versions, particularly the Syriac and Arabic are sometimes so wide from the Greek, that one scarce knows how to believe that they were made from it, often inserting long Paraphrases foreign to it, and in other places omitting as much, and yet there is no good reason to think that they translated from any Hebrew copy: If that indeed was certain, they would stand on an equal foot with the Greek, excepting its being translated so early, and by so near a relation. Nor do the Oriental versions agree any better with the Latin. As tothe Vulgate in particular, itis un- certain what copy it follows, or of what authority that copy was; it sometimes adds whole sen- tences, which have nothing to answer them in the Greek ; possibly the translator, to be more ex- plicit, gave two renderings of the same sentence ; or, as Huetius conjectures, inserted some parallel maxims from some other work. It does not appear to have been interpolated, except some mar- ginal annotations should aocidentally have crept into the text, much less to have been corrupted with design by an officious hand ; and there is still less reason to assert, that any alterations have been made by the pious fraud of some Christian, to make it conform to, and countenance some favourite sentimens and opinions, as Grotius has, without any warrant or proof, more than once intimated. Bossuet, Calmet, and the other Commentators follow the Vulgate too implicitly and securely, and make that version the foundation of their annotations, and no wonder that the -Popish expositors should adhere religiously to it, which the Council of Trent has confirmed and ratified. It may be observed of all these, and of Grotius himself among the rest, that by com- menting from this, instead of the Greek, which serves now for the original, a sense is often given either superfluous, or foreign to the Author’s meaning. The old English versions, as Coverdale’s and the Bishop’s Bible, generally copy the Vulgate too closely, imitating and transcribing it in many (faulty) instances; the Geneva often departs from it for the better. Our last translators are not so servile, nor do they follow any one Greek copy invariably, as it is difficult, I may say impossible, to fix upon any one copy as the true standard of the rest ; but they seem chiefly to have regarded the Complutensian, which, tho’ it liesunder a sus- picion of conforming its Greek to the Vulgate, yet Dr Grabe, Prolegom. ch. iii. § 1. says, it exhibits. a text in this book, ON nuper ficlam aut tuterpolatuin, sed jane olim a patribus ita lectum, But they scruple not occasionaily to prefer the Latin before the Greek, where they think it gives a better sense, and sometimes even to adopt conjectures, unsupported by any copy, for the same purpose, But upon the whole, either not attending sufliciently to the scope of the. context, or ‘not ex- pressing fully the spirit and propriety of the Greek, their rendering is in very many places inace curate and obscure, and in some faulty and mistaken. hese defects are indeed discernible in many translations, made immediately from the original, but they must necessarily be more nu- racrous, Where translations are made from one another, as most of our ‘English ongs. probably are ; PREFACE. XXVii which holds‘true of the canonical books (see Boyle on the style of the Holy Scriptures), as. well as of the Apocryphal. writings. : The learned are divided in their sentiments about the time of writing this book. The first opi- nion is of.those who refer it to the reign of Solomon, and make that prince to be the author of it. But to the reasons before hinted at against this notion, we may add, that this writer speaks of So- lomon himself very much to his discredit; of the kings his successors; of prophets, and other famous men, who lived before and after the Babylonish captivity ; of the twelve minor prophets, and cites the very words of Malachi,-the last of them. He mentions also Simon, the high-priest, _ whose time, whether we understand it of the first or second of that name, will by no means syn- chronise to the era of Solomon’s reign. And the author in some passages, as chap. xxxiv. II, 12. li. 6. discovers certain particulars of his own life which cannot be applied to that prince. The second is of such as place this writer under the pontificate of Eleazar, and in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelph, between A. M. 3711, the supposed year of Simon the Just’s death, and A. M. 3783, the year of Euergetes I.’s death, according to Usher and other chronologers.. This opinion is im part admissible, and may betrue so far as it relates to this writer’s going into Egypt, but not as to the time of his-writing this book of Ecclesiasticus, which was under another reign, . and in his more advanced age. The third is-of:those who place him either under the pontificate of Simon II. of whom they understand chap. |. or of Onias ILI.-before Christ. cir. 171 years, and make him (the grandfather) to go, or rather flee into Egypt, on account of the persecutions and distresses which the Jews suffered under Antiochus Epiphanes, to whose troublesome times they refer, chap. XxXiv, XXXV, XXXVi, li. This opinion is as much too late for the author’s writing his original work, and agrees not with his seeing Simon the Just officiate, mentioned chap, |. nor does it allow a sufficient distance of. time between the two Sy-rachides, the author, and the Greek translator; the latter of whom translated, as he himself says, under Euergetes, which must mean. . the second of that name. The new hypothesis advanced in the following sheet of .their respec- tive times, makes the grandfather to have written Ecclesiasticus.some.time under Euergetes I. about 232 years before Christ, and the grandson to have translated in the first year of Euergetes Il. or rather of the joint reign of the two brothers. Which date is proposed as most probable, because otherwise the life of the translator would be carried beyond the.age of man, .as will ap- pear distinctly from the Chronological Table annexed ; for the favour of which I am obliged to the singular goodness of a very learned prelate, to whom religion and the republic of letters are greatly indebted, and whose sentiments on. all occasians are so just, that every the least work of _ his is truly valuable. . ; Some disputes have been -raised concerning this writer, from -his being called Jesus, the son of Sirach. From the first, some have contended, that the author of this book was Jesus, son , of Josedec the high-priest, mentioned. Haggai i. 1. as we meet with several of this. name in the Jewish history ; but as that Jesus lived in the times of Zacchary, Malachi, Ezra, and Nehemiah, he must ‘have been some centuries before our author, for these holy men flourished under Darius Hystaspes, who preceded even Alexander the Great 200 years; but this. writer lived after_pro- phecy had ceased, after the time of Ezra, and the perfecting the canon, even after that of Simon . the Just, the last, as is generally supposed, of the men of the great synagogue, from whose fa- mily, by:Eleazar. probably, this writer.was descended. From the second, viz. son of Sirach, it has been alleged -by some rabbins and Christian writers, that as the Jews have now a. book among them which-they call the Book.of Ben-Sira, i. e.. the Book of the Son of Sira, and this. book con- taining a collection of moral sayings, this Ben-Sira,. or the son of Sira (of whose proverbs Fagius - has given two alphabets in Hebrew and Chaldee, with a Latin version), is the same with Ben-Si- rach, or the-son of Sirach, arid his book the same as that of Ecclesiasticus. But this surmise seems ‘to, be, founded only.in the.similitude of the names of these authors; for there is so far from being a-perfect agreement, or a conformity of sentiments between them, that Ben-Sira’s alphabet has many things which the other has. not, and-some quite, contrary to it (see note on chap. xxv. 26.3, and others .trifling, ridiculous, or, indefensible, as will appear trom a comparison of the sentences, which Corp. a Lapide, to prove them different persons, has prefixed to his. Commentary. ‘Those few parallel.ones, which we meet with, possibly Jesus might adopt, and insert into his own work, as there is a very considerable'difference betwixt them, in point of time, likewise. For this Ben- Sira, according. to,some Jewish writers, was the son or nephew of Jeremiah, and not long after 2 NXviil PREFAG E his time, and had a son named Uziel, and a grandson Joseph (names which suit not either the author or the translator), and so must have lived in the time of the captivity, or soon after the return from it ; but the author of Ecclesiasticus flourished after the time of Alexander the Great, and the establishment of the'Greek monarchy. See Buxt. and Bartolocc. Bibl. Rabbin. With as little reason is Jesus, the writer of this book, supposed by others to be one of the LXX interpreters ; for though it is probable he went in:o Egypt in the time of Ptolemy Philadelph, yet that he was sent thither, or assisted in that translation, or took the hint from questions propo- sed to those interpreters, to set about his own work of moral-sentences and apothegms, is all con- Jecture, ‘[his notion took its rise probably from Aristeas mentioning one of that name amongst those interpreters, which,.suppose it true, though his account is generally reckoned fabulous, is not sufficient to determine that Jesus, the son of Sirach, was the person. I have, in the comment on the book of Wisdom *, considered, and examined the principal councils, on the sanction of which the Romanists ground the Canonicalness of this, and the other apocryphal writings, to which t beg leave to refer the reader ; at present I shall take no- tice of, and confute another pretence, which is urged by some } of that communion, viz. that besides the first canon of Scripture, made in the time of Esdras, there was another added in the time of Eleazar the high priest, by a council then assembled at Jerusalem, when they sent their LX XIi interpreters to Prolomy, king of Egypt, for the translating their Hebrew Bible into Greek, in which council they canonized the books of Tobit, Ecclesiasticus, and some others, In answer to this, T observe, 1. That it does not appear by any evidence that the Jews ever had any such second canon among them. 2. Had there been any such, they were too tenacious of their laws, and the traditions of their elders, ever to have parted with it. 3. To what purpose should they afterwards reject such a canon, or what would they have gained by it? Possibly they might have been willing to abolish or mutilate those Scriptures, as Esay and Daniel, which propbesied of the coming of Christ, at the time when they rejected him; but what should induce them to attempt an alteration as to these books in which there are no such prophecies against them? 4. Had these, now called Apocryphal books, ever been made parts of the canonical Scriptures, it would have been a wicked sacrilege in the Jews after. to have rejected them, nor would Christ, that so often and sharply reproves them for taking away the true sense of Scripture, have failed to have condemned them more severely for re« nouncing whole books of it. As there is then no such canon any where to be produced, nor any probability that the Jews should receive any such, who religiously adhered to the first as delivered to: them by the prophets, and still less reason to imagine that they ever should part with it afterwards, if once authorised, it is as clear, as any evidence can make it that there never was any such second canon of Scripture made by a council of Ferosdlem. ‘See Cosin’s Schol. Hist. p. 14. §c. Calmet indeed says, that it is a received opinion of the Catholic church, that this book was placed in the Canon of Scripture, and that it may be de- monstrated by the testimony of several fathers, and by the tradition of all Christian churches and by its being quoted by a great number of ecclesiastical writers, as a work inspired by the Holy Ghost. To the first assertion I answer, that if by the Catholic church, he means the Church universal, it is not true ; Episcopius to shew the agreement of Christian churches with the Jews in this point, enumerates the decisions of nine of the Eastern, nine of the Western, and two of the Aftican churches, determining for the canon as we now have it, and excluding all other, but the twenty-two books received by the Jewish church, and contained in the He- brew Bible. See Joseph. Cont. App. L. i. If by Catholic church he means that of Rome in particular, her judgment cannot outweigh the decisions of a larger number, and churches of great= er authority, ez. those of Jerussalem, Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople, to the contrary, As to the second pretence, that the fathers revere and quote this book as Scripture, it may be re- plied, 1. That the ee Scripture is often taken laxly, to signify any ancient mulanfaatied write ing, containing excellent and pious instructions i in r are ; othe of Wisdom may have ialeaalied Habe Woe Co af on a book, and the nonical ones, but not in so true and strict a as tics other Ata a re ona: aa ae when either the Greek or Latin fathers make a care sinc erin es es tts SB: ane é able mention of them, and attribute * ry » . Annotat. on Calmet’s Preface. + Genebrard, Maldonate, Serarius, Perron, &'c. PROLOGUE. XXiX to them'tlie title of Holy Writings, yet this does not place them higher than in the second rank of Scriptures, which are of a lesser, imperfect, and doubtful authority. ~ I shall in-a third and last part, which will-finish my whole design, attempt to illustrate in ‘the’same manner the books of Tobit, Judith, Baruch, &c¢. to which I shall add some strictures and observations on particular passages in the books of Maccabees and Esdras. And this, God willing, shall follow with all convenient speed. PROLOGUT E LMOST after all the prophets.] Either this is a mistake, or they mistake who make Mala- : chi the last of all the prophets ; for should we understand this of Jesus the grandfather, (to -carry the matter as high as possible) though undoubtedly the grandson is meant here, as the earned have very justly observed, that this book was wrote in the third century before Christ, and translated about 133 years before his.advent. See Bishop Chandler’s Def. p. 41. we can- not reconcile the assertion here with the time in which chronologers have fixed the death of Ma- jachi, and the completing of the canon ; which Helvicus, Prideaux, Usher, place about Anno, 428. Artaxerxes, $7. except the word prophet is to be taken in a more lax and extensive sense. See following, Disc. p. xxx. PROLOGUE MW. OR in the eight-and-thirtieth year coming into Egypt, when Euergetes was king, &c.] The learned are greatly divided how to settle this difhculty ; They are not agreed whether the words should be understood of the 38th year of the translator, or of the years of the reign of Euergetes, or of the 38th year of Jubilee, or of the 38th of the Dionysian era, or the 38th year of the Jews’ deliverance from slavery under Ptolomy Philadelph, or of the 38th year from the slg ty writing his book in Hebrew, or of the 38th year from the grandson’s coming into Sgypt. See following Discourse, p. xxx. 8c. where these opinions are discussed, and the diffi- cultycleared up.* Ibid. I found a book of no small learning, therefore I thought it most necessary for me to bestow some diligence and travel to interpret it.] Our translators suppose the book he translated to be the same that he found: But can this be? was hea stranger to his grandfather’s work till he happened to meet with it in Egypt? The aceount in the former Prologue is, that the original work was transmitted from father to son ; viz. by Jesus the elder to Sirach, and by Sirach to Je- sus the translator ; and no doubt but it was preserved by them as a most valuable work in their family. Of this, indeed, Jesus the translator gives some account above; and yet by this ex- pression, it seems as if he met with his grandfather’s work by mere chance in Egypt, which is not an easy supposition. May not epexov here stand for, and relate to some other book, the ‘meeting with which was his inducement to translate his grandfather’s work in like inanner ? for they seem to be plainly distinguished, as two different works, but of the same natureand kind - apeuoor, which is properly rendered here, from the Greek, Exemplar in the Polyglot Bibles, does not signify a copy or transcript of the original book, (nor is it usual, speaking of a copy, to say, Exemplar non parve doctrine) but means a learned and ingenious performance of the like kind, which moved him to an imitation of it in a similar case, to transiate the work he had before spoken of, and to publish it for the sake of his countrymen in dispersion. Though apipong is dissimilis, apouor bere must be understood in the sense of apoyswoua, similitude, or likeness. And what book so likely to be this apoucfwua, as one of the rar walpiov Biéxtey, writtes ait ry the pro- phets, and among these what so probable, says a very learned friend, to whom 1am nota XXX PROLOGUE JU. little indebted in the following work : ‘* As the Wisdom of Solomon in particular, the transla tion of which into Greek he might first meet within Egypt, after he had made some stay there ; and which, being done with great skill, and proving very instructive, might be his motive to think of doing the like with his grandfather’s collection of sentences, which were of the same kind, and partly on the same subject. See first Prolog. This likewise might be his inducement to intitle bis work in the same manner, Wisdom. For the first Prologue says, he gave it this name, and that Jesus did imitate Solomon, which perhaps was the reason why one is tacked, or joined to the other. Our translation therefore of the above-said passage (he conceives). should. run thus: “ For in the 38th year (of my age) being in Egypt, in the reign of Muergetes, and staying there some time, I met with a learned and instructive tract, or instance, of this kind, and thereupon I myself (av7%¢) thought [ was bound to apply myself with close study and dili- gence, to the rendering into Greek this same book,”’ rake tur B/Caor, viz. his grandfather’s, which be before recommended as a most useful book. This makes his whole Prologue consistent with itself, and to be easy and natural, and likewise conformable to the account given in the anony- mous Prologue above.” 1 could not conceal from the reader this ingenious conjecture, bow far the circumstance of time, and the gra of the respective writers will confirm it, the learned must determine. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, JOHN, LORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN. My Lorp, HE great regard which you have always shewn for whatever may tend to promote T the cause of virtue and goodness, and the affection which you was pleased to express for your Clergy, encourage me to hope for a favourable acceptance of the fol- lowing sheets. The excellent morality of The Wisdom of the Son of Sirach, and the justness of its observations, which have stood the test, and gained the approbation of so many succes- sive ages, have deservedly recommended it to general esteem. A celebrated Metropo- litan * in particular, one of the early lights of the Reformation, had such a high opinion of its worth, and the great usefulness of its being thoroughly understood, that he pur- posely engaged the learned Drusius to undertake an illustration of it, under his patronage and encouragement. Though I might, after the example of our author, in celebrating such famous men, as ‘‘ are leaders of the people by their counsel, wise and eloquent in their instructions, and by their knowledge of learning meet for great purposes,’ be induced to attempt a parallel between his favourite character, chap. ]. and that of your Lordship, yet I chuse religiously to adhere to the advice of this wise writer, not to offend in the presence of great men, nor to court favour by the mean artifice of flattery. May the same good providence of God, which from a calamity, that threatened your life, reserved your Lordship for the happiness of this diocese, still continue to watch over you for the future benefit and service of his church. Tam, My Lord, Your Lordship’s most Dutiful, and Obedient Servant, RICHARD ARNALD. * Archbishop Whitgift. A. DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE AGE OF THE TWO SIRACHIDES,. ONE THE AUTHOR, THE OTHER THE. GREEK TRANSLATOR OF THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTICUS.. HERE there are intrinsic characters in. any author that. shew. the age, he did,. er did not live in, or give ground for reasonable conjectures of the time he wrote in,. little no- tice should be taken of*any authorities to the- contrary from writers of a distant, subsequent age, to the prejudice of the author, whose cha-. racters he overlooks or contradicts. This is the case of the Prologue of St Athanasius, which is joined-with the Prologue of the Greek translator of the Book. Ecclesiasticus. It is probable. he is the same Athanasitis, Bishop of Alexandria, as Euthalius dedicated’ his edition of the Acts and Epistles to, who flourished between the years 458, and 490, as is proved’ by Zacagny, the editor ;_ and if so, he was above a century. at least from the age of the great A- thanasius, and’ at too great a distance from the age of the translator of Ecclesiasticus, to be re- garded in any historical or chronological point, wherein he differs from that translator. This I take to be the shortest way. of getting rid of the first difficulty in the Prologue of A- thanasins.the younger. The age of Malachy is too well settled to be shaken: by so: modern an authority ;.and“for the author of the Hebrew Ecclesiasticus, he is, in several- places, express against the assertions or deductions that may _be drawn from any expressions in the Prologue aforesaid. For instance, the Hebrew Sirachi- des, speaks in the praise of the twelve minor prophets, chap., Ix. 10, ‘* And of the twelve prophets, let the memorial be blessed.””—So that he not only lived after them, but even after their prophecies were collected into one volume, which went under the. denomination: of. the. twelve prophets, as did the- collection of the five books of Moses, under the name. of the. Pentateuch, and of the Octateuch, when the three other books were added to it. And to. be sure that Malachy the last pro- phet made one in the collection of the twelve. prophets, the same Hebrew _Ecclesiasticus. quotes the very words of Malachy as a predic- tion of his, then yet to be fulfilled. For speak- ing-of Elias, who, as Malachy. foretold, was to come before the great and terrible day of the Lord;. he epitomizes what Malachy had said. upon that occasion, chap. iv. 5,6. ‘* Elias,, (says he,) was ordained to pacify the Lord’s- judgment before it breaks forth.”” And then quotes the very words of Malachy, chap. xlviii. 10. ** To turn the heart of the father un- to the son.” ; But how then are we to understand Atha-. nasius when he says, the son of Sirach lived: almost after all the prophets? it is of no con- sequence whether we understand him atall. If he meant almost after the twelve, or any of the minor prophets, He is plainly mistaken. And if he uses the word prophe¢ in any other sense, it is foreign to your purpose. Possibly he might learn of the Jews (who esteemed the ima to be a lower degree of prophecy) to cdl those prophets who are favoured with that gentle voice ; or rather, with Josephus, to term some holy men prophets, who lived in the in- terval between the ceasing of prophecy and the advent of Christ, and predicted a few future events, relating to public or private affairs, which came to pass accordingly, as Josephus affirms... , The same prologue of Athanasius affirms,. that Sirachides was no less famous for Wisdom than Solomon, which, I think, intends no more than that his collection of, wise, pithy say- ings, were in as great repute, were known and read as much, as the Proverbs of Solomon, which. were in the highest esteem for their. wisdom and learning. As much as to say, Sirachides was looked on as another Solomon, for his wise, moral, and ceconomical! precepts. [ Xxxili Eastern ‘comparisons (and herein the Egyptians imitated them) are not to be stretched to every - degree of equality. Sirachides might imitate Solomon, and resemble him in many things without coming up to his full height of wisdom, much less to his spirit of inspiration. The learned are indeed much divided in opi- nion touching the 38th year, mentioned in the prologue of the Greek Sirachides, but most of their reasons may be answered easily, and methinks I see, in the prologue itself, light enough how to understand it differently, from them all. His words are these: "Ev 70 an tres (iwi re Evepynre Basinios) capayenSery eg Alyuzfoy & ouyxporicas, eU por ¥ ixpate wanes aponsov:—Of which I take the sense to be this, “* For in the 38th year (Euergetes being then king) after I ‘had come into Egypt, and sojourned there all that whole long time, I met with a copy, or exem- plar of this book, fraught with no small learn- ing.”-—~To synchronize, is to be equal in time or duration with some other thing ; and here is nothing to synchronize with besides the 38 years of his abode in Egypt, which began from the year of his first entrance into that country, and concurred with the succeeding years to the 38th. Iam aware that apspowr, or épouomy (as some manuscripts have it) is not classical Greek. For though epéuone doth usually stand in the Greek writers for unlike, taking the particle-crs in a contrary sense to that I use it in, yet since aponolors commonly signifies simitude, 1 cannot see why apéyou may not signify a counterpart of a writing, copied upon, from, or after it. It ’ must be remembered, that in Alexandria, -the common people, as yet, spoke Macedonian Greek, and our translator, conversing much with them, might fall into their. dialect, or compound Greek words as they did, though not much in use before him, when he thought them to be most expressive of his meaning. They that understand this 38th year of part of the jubilee year, surely did not consider that those years, no more than the sabbatical years, were observed out of the land of Canaan. The design of the jubilee, was to preserve the inheritances of families within their own proper tribes ; and therefore when a possessor, through misfortune, or luxurious living, had been forced to mortgage his estate, it was ordained to be. restored to him or his heirs, at, or after the re- volution of 50 years, and so the inheritance was restored to the family that formerly possessed it ; but as the Jews had no inheritances in their ] dispersions, the jubilee year was impracticable, and the observation of such an epoch need!ess, and next to impossible. Nor will.recourse to the Dionysian year help those who would accommodate this 35th year to that epoch, for his era beginning from the first of Ptolomy Philadelph, and Philadelph reigning but 38 years, according to Ptolomy’s canon, at most thirty-nine according to Jose- phus, the first of Euergetes must be the 39th or. 40th of the Dionysian wra, and consequently exceeds a year or two the S8th year of the Greek Sirachides. The year of the Jews deliverance from slavery, under Ptolomy Philadelph, bids fairest for a Jewish epoch to be remembered in Egypt; but as this deliverance has no other nor better authority than that of Aristeus (for Josephus follows him) the fact is doubtful, especially since this deliverance is said to be purchased with a large sum of money by the Jews, which how they that were slaves, and not long ago led captives into Egypt were able to amass, ts not easy to guess. ‘The year of this deliverance is not mentioned by Aristeus, Eusebius (upon what authority I know not) places it in the second or third year of the reign of Philadel- phus; but that is most improbable, that a wise king, just come to the throne of a newly con- quered kingdom, should makc it one of his first acts to do the most provoking thing possible . to a superstitious, changeable, seditious people, - ‘viz. the procuring the publication of a book that rallied their religion and their gods, and exposed the tyranny and cruelty of their an- cestor kings, and perpetuated the history of the shameful destruction of their nation, in the cause of those very Jews that were now again their slaves. Scaliger, therefore, from the reckoning of Julius Afvicanus, places it in the latter end: of his reign. By the computation therefore of Julius Africanus, this version was not made under Euergetes the first, for he reigned but 24 years, and add to those 24 years the five or six years of Philadelph, after the Sirachides had made this pretended Greek version, and-you get no higher than five or six years more, which fall short of the 38 years in the Prologue. : Indeed, by Eusebius’s computation, the Greek Sirachides might come into Egypt, and begin his translation the second or third of Eu ergetes ; but then there are other circumstan- ces that overthrow this Opinion also; for the Hebrew Sirachides writ his book under a king E { xxxiv J. of Egypt, who persecuted the Jews, and from whom he was in danger of his life after many sufferings by false accusations, &e. This could. not happen in Ptolomy Lagi’s reign, because the elder Sirachides was scarcely born at that time, at least he was too young to repair into Egypt to get wisdom and knowledge, which, as he himself seems to intimate, was the end of his going thither, much less was he of an age capable of writing a book of such wise instruc- tions and observations. Nor is it likely that he or his people, should suffer such grievous things under Philadelph, a prince of a most humane temper ; and particularly favourable to the Jewish nation, according to the same Hu- sebius: If then we bring the Hebrew Sirach- ides into Egypt, not sooner than the reign of Eu- ergetes the first, the Greek Sirachides could not in his reign translate this book; for a proper interval must be allowed between the writing and the translation, much longer than the reign of Euergetes, or even of his successor, It must be considered the Hebrew Sirachides wrote his book in Hebrew, or in the language of the Jews at Jerusalem, as a manual for the Jews in Egypt, who must therefore be supposed able to read and understand well that language: but the Greek Sirachides therefore translated this book out of Hebrew, because the Jews had then almost all forgot their native tongue: Thus the Greek prologue of the translator, ‘* Having found a copy of no sinall learning, or instruc. tion, | thought it most necessary for me to be- stow some diligence and travel to interpret it with great watchfulness, and skill in my leizure hours to bring the book to an end, and set it forth, or publish it for their use, who in this Egyptian dispersion, or peregrination were giv- en to study or learning, being before prepared in manners to live according to the law.”” This was the very end proposed by his grandfather in writing the book, ‘* to the intent,” says the translator in the same prologue, that those which are desirous ‘* to learn, and are addicted to thesethings, might profit much more in living according to the law.” Such a change in lan- guage in the same people, might easily happen within the compass of three. gencrations, or of 120 years, and not much sooner ; consequent. ly the Greek translator did not tread too quick upon the heels of the Hebrew writer, but his age must be brought down to the reign of a later Ptolomy ; and if he did translate, as he says he did under Euergetes, he must be under Euergetes the second, and at a good distance from Euergetes the first. The opinion of those (which is the general opinion of learned men) who make this 38th year to be the year of his life, is liable to few or no exceptions ; but it seems to be too vague an expression, without some word expressive of his age to restrain it to that sense, unless it should appear that such omissions are not in- frequent in this translation ; the mention of his own age at all does not seem to be of any impor- tance towards raising the value of the work it- self; but the long stay in Egypt before he un- dertook it, implies that he was well qualified for such a work, and fully acquainted with the want his countryman were in of such a translation. The following genealogical table may contri- bute to strengthen what I have advanced above, concerning the age the translator lived in; at least it will shew that Jesus the younger could not translate his grandfather’s book under Eu- ergetes the first. I think it may be collected from several pas- sages of Ecclesiasticus, that Sirachides the writ- er, was of the priestly line, and if we may credit the reading in some Greek MSS, Ecclus. |. 3. he was descended from Eleaser, the brother of Simon Justus the high pricst ; and should that be allowed, 1 make Jesus the son of Sirach the younger, to have translated 38 years sooner than Archbishop Usher doth, viz. in’ the first year of Euergetes the second, ante Chr. 169. and not in his 38th year, 132, which would protract the translator’s life too long. I would not be thought in the table to fix the year precisely, when each priest entered on his office. It is sufficient for our purpose, that it is near the time specified, allowing about thirty years to cach priest’s continuance in his office. ; { oxxy } bce Rintet Jaddus efore Chris loon an era $05 Ptol. Lagi beg. Onias 1.—Menasse. In his Reign $00 bef. C. Simon the Just began his priesthood.-——Lleazar | 208 C. ———— Eleazar brother of Simon 985 C. Ptol. Philad. Sirach 259 C, Menasse brother of Onias I. 247 C. Euergetes 1. ~ } Jesus the author of Ecclesiasticus. Onias IT. son of Simon 293 C.—he might be 9 or 10 years old, or two before Simon the Just died. 2292—Ptol. Philop. Tor he saw him officiate, Ecclus. lL. 1. 247.— C. Went into Egypt under Pto- lomy Philadelph, at the death of Ptolomy Philadelph ; aged 55. —Some time under Kuergetes I. writ Ec- clus, aged about 66.—for he was old when he writ itabout 232 C. 233 C, 219 C. Simon IT. Sirach son of Jesus the Elder. 205 Ptol. Epiph, = ————_——__»__—___»-—__,, Jesus son of Sirach, the translator, 199 C. Onias ITI--Jesus called -Onias called--Lysimachus who, if he translated, in the 38th iaeh Menelaus year of his coming into Egypt, and that 38th year fell on I. Physcon, or 75 eee Kuerg. Il. when he was about 60 l years or upwards, he must have 172 C. Menelaus come into Egypt 207 before Christ, 181 C. Ptol. Philop. 1. e. in the end of Ptol. Philopator. 169 11 Philometor de- At which time Jesus might be about - posed and fled to 22 years of age, his brother whom the Alexandrians had made king. 169C. ea Philometor Physcon, or Euergetes IT. ~ But whether the elder Sirachides was of the family of Simon the high priest by Eleazar or not, it is certain he was of a competent age to remember Simon’s graceful perforining of the duty of high priest : That he was not of sufficient age and experience, before the reign of Euergetes I. to write his book, em o/d age: And that the reign of LKuergetes I. was too short (24 years) for his grandson in advanced years, to translate this book under the same Euergetes: As on the other hand, the grandson must have lived beyond the usual period of men, to begin this trans- lation in the 38th year of Euergetes I]. according to Usher, or his father Syrach must have ex- ceeded the like period, did he, the son, at the 38th year of his life, reach the reign of Kuergetes I. and yet his grandfather Jesus be acquainted with Simon the first. F. DuresmMe. 2 4 CRITICAL COMMENTARY UPON THE BOOK OF THE WISDOM OF JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH. Keclefiasticus, qui Sapientia Feu F. Sirach inscriditur, pleraque cum Proverbiis Salomonis habet communia, nifi quod hic nofter copiosiot est, & minus habet difficultatis. Ex ee certius, and minore cum periculo discent moralem Philosophiam studiosi, quam ex ullo Platone, aut Aristotele, Bullinger. Prafat. in Vers. Leo, ude. : . , . - o ~ ia a9: tf Neadhay curicins:xod taieipns iydeativ by od Bilrin réry Inows vids Leigay Mgoroduuitns, 8: ardplonet sopias dns xegdias abcd. ponderos os iy revo . « ~ . > Ly G krasgagrotrar, xal b bis ara ix) xagdiay abr copieIiertas. lav yee aiva woinen, weds warTA i7xues, Cap. 1. 7 aa = P : "Dh, So1 bx imds povy Anerinsa,arAre wees veis ix@nt¥es coPiay. Cap, XXIV. CH a.Y.. T.. THE ARGUMENT.. AS the title of this book 1s Wisdom, the author very properly opens it with the recommenda- tion of righteousness, which is a principal part of it; «virtue necessary to be observed by all,. but more particularly by the rulers and judges of the earth, this being the chief end of’ their appointment, the pursuit of this end their great ay. and the attainment of it their true glory, He then proceeds to shew in general the neces- sity of right sentiments of God, and the folly of mistrusting, and murmuring against his pro- vidence ; that as he is the searcher of all hearts, no disguise or hypocrisy can impose upon him, nor be concealed from him 3. that wickedness first brought death into the world, which God un- willingly inflicts upon men, who were originally designed for a blessed state of immortality. OVE righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth.] We find the like command given to Joshua, when God appointed him to suc- ceed Moses in the government of his people: ‘the book.of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do ac- cording to all that is written therein ; for then thou shalt make thy way presperous, and then thou shalt have good success,” Josh. i. 8. where. the marginal reading, thou shalt do wisely, taken from the Hebrew, and confirmed by the LXX, seems far preferable. The same direc- tion is given, Psal. ii, 10, 11.“ Be wise now, O ye kings, be instructed, ye that are judges of the earth; serve the Lord with fear,” &c, The philosopher assigns two reasons why ma- gistrates should be particularly careful to give public testimony of their goodness ; ** because the people will be less jealous of suffering any injury from such whom they believe to be righteous ; and will be less disposed to attempt an injury against.such of whom they entertain the highest opinion.” Politic. lib. v. c. 11. And it is no improbable conjecture, that one reason why rulers are called’ gods in Scripture, Psal. Ixxxii. 6.. is, that they ought to imitate the deity in the perfection of goodness. [This is the most natural interpretation of the words, and undoubtedly designed. by the author, be- cause, ch. vi. 1. he calls those: very persons, Smasai meptray vic. Where see the three verses ° which follow, and ver. 9.]. But besides this acceptation of judges of the earth, there is ano- ther sense suggested by “ Messieurs du Port Royal: Les Saints expliquent ces paroles comine estant dites a tous les fidelles,” who according to some of the fathers, will be ap- pointed judges of the earth. And indeed St Austin thus interprets the very words of this author, of xpivorleg viv yi, (see Comment. on Psal. ii.) from the Christian doctrine, probably, 1 Cor. vi. 2. “ Know ye not, that the Saints shall judge the world ?- ziy Koo Kor xpisor; Hence ® xpiTig rig oixunéms, became the style of a great Saint, and is yet used as the standing title of the patriarch of. Alexandria,, and perhaps of other eastern patriarchs. That this construc- tion might be intended here may seem probable, Cuar. I. because the author of this book uses the same expression in the same sense, ch. ili. 8. where, speaking professedly of the saints, or the best of men, he says, xpuvow €Orn % xpalnover Naar. Up- on which words Grotius, and other commen- tators scruple not to refer to Matt. xix. 28. and Apoeal. ii. 26. and other places where the judgment of the world by the saints is men- tioned. Both these passages in this writer may easily be accounted for, if there was any foundation for Grotius’s observation in the in- troduction to his notes, viz. that the translator of this book was a Christian, “ qui Christiana quedam. commodis locis. addidit.” If that great man had.given any proof of his.remark, then indeed these passages might be more just- ly suspected, and esteemed instances of the truth of his observation. ~ Ibid. Think of the Lord with. a good heart. Sporioale wegi 7a Kupiv tr ayxforns,. Our translators, because it follows immediately 4 & axaorvf: napdiac Cnlicale avitv, have considered ayadsrne, as well as azacrns, as relating tothe heart. But according to Grotius, sentite de Domino in boni- tate, isa Hebraism for bene sentite, (which is the sense of Calmet.and the rest of the commenta- tors, of Coverdale’s and the Geneva Bibles) think of God justly and worthily, i. e. have right sentiments of his.goodness, power, (which the Arabic Version understands in particular) and his other. attributes: consider what God is, and what, ye yourselves are; what God. is, and.what ye-yaurselyes.are ; what great things he hath done for you, and what unworthy re- turns ye have made him. This certainly is the better construction, (if the Hebraism may be depended. upon): and comprehends. more than our translation of the place. is very properly inseyted in the entrance of this word, because a right opinion concerning God is the basis. and foundation of all virtue and goodness, Thus Origen, Bacw yap cia 4 Bpatoper macwr Tay apdloy aves Thy appoCuoay Ora Scbar ze x aisw. Cont. Marcion. p. 2. for the better God is understood, with the more rational religion will he be. worshipped, and with a homage more agreeable to his nature, free from any mixture of superstition or idolatry. Ibid. And in simplicity of heart seek: him.} i.e. With sincerity and singleness of heart,as Cover- dale renders, in opposition to double-minded- ness, which the scripture so frequently.con- demns, and the Hebrew well expresses by a eart and a heart, divided as it were betwixt God and. the world ; and thus St Bernard seems THE BOOK OF WISDOM. This instruction. 37 to understand it. “ Seek not any thing, says he, more than God, or so much as God, be- cause he is above every thing; seek not any thing with God, or next unto him, because he alone is sufficient for every thing. De Div. Serm. 37. A person of such a temper is cle- gantly called by the son of Sirach, a sinner that goeth two ways, Ecclus. ii. 12. Ver. 2. He will be found of them that tempt him not.) (In the. Greek, evpicxdla:, is found.) Though itis certain that tempting God, is used in Scripture, not only for: presumption and too much confidence, but also for too little con- fidence, or difidence and distrust, which latter is the sense that Grotius and Calmet take it in ; yet tor what reason.it:should be so taken here (especially as the following words.express this very thing, wz. “ that he sheweth himself to those that do not distrust him) is not easy to conceive ; unless we will make a difference in the degrees of distrust expressed by aupatwow and azis¥ew, as there seeins to be in the degrees of discovery God makes of himself, expressed by epexdls and tuparitler or else interpret erse- ov Of incredulity or slowness of belief, which is the proper meaning of the word. But the most natural.construction of the whole verse is given by Messieurs du Port Royal, who interpret tempting God, of every instance of hypocrisy. and disguise, om ne cherche point Dieu avec un ceur simple: This is so agreeable to the awadrne, xapd/a¢ before-mentioned,. as well as to all the following verses, that it claims the preference. And then, as it is another proper effect of the simplicity of the heart; to be as free from sus- picions and distrust, as it is from craft or pre- tence, wh emseo, rendered and understood as in our.translation, follows most aptly and na- turally. Ver3, For froward thoughts. | Lxorsol royisnol. Zxoawe properly is ¢ortuosus, fleruosus, and, when applied to thoughts, must denote crafty, cupti- ous, intriguing, subtle, prevaricating, and every thing which is the reverse of eaavs. 1 doubt therefore of the propriety of rendering it by fro- ward, which denotes rather perverseness or ob- stinacy, as our translators render the word, Prov. xvii. 20. from another sense of exoars, viz, crooked, hard to be reduced to a right line. But this sense of wiliness or dissimulation perfectly agrees with the context, for it is said ¢o separate Jrom God, i. e. God is not to be found by an hypocrite; and the reason follows in the fitth verse. [tubuc, right or straight, is the opposite: to cxonws. Acts vill. Q1. 4 yap xapdia ov wx ts 38 BOOK OF waa bore tv Os. Which is taken from Psal. Ixxviii. 87. Propertius iii. 3. Recta animi pri- mum debuit esse via. | ‘ Ibid. And his power when it is tried, reproveth the unwise.] This is variously apprehended by the commentators. Clarius would have it, * that the approved virtue of good men renders them the fittest to reprove the ungodly.” Badwell says, Pronomen ejus adjunzi, ut ad Deum refer- atur. So have our translators inserted it ; though Acs should have been in Italic letters, because not in the original. - Castellio, the same in sense; so also Grotius understands it, and expounds it, “ that there’ is sufficient ex- perience of the power of God to confute all those who deny his providence.” But how does this suit with the context ? I think Mes- sicurs du Port Royal preserve the connection much better, e¢ dors que les hommes veulent ten- ter sa puissance (tempt him by their hypocrisy, as above, or, as they explain it here in their notes, en feignant le chercher au méme tems qu’on le deshonore) elle les convainc de folie, 1. e. as they explain it, God punishes their folly by giving them up to their own unruly affections. ‘The sense of the whole third verse seems to be to this effect; guileful thoughts set us at a dis- tance from God and his truth, he is too great and powerful a being to be treated with art or craft ; and when men presume to treat him so, recalcitrat undique tutus (as Horace said of Au- gustus) they are sure to suffer for their folly. This sense 1s confirmed by the words imme- diately following. Ter. 4. For into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter.) Eig xaxerexvey tuxir. Here again is meant the crafty, designing, evil plotting soul, and not merely the malicious soul, as our trans- Jators have rendered. And thus Badwell un- derstands xaxcrexrec, anima guce malun moltur & machinatur, St Gregory has a just and appo- site observation: ‘ Deus de supernis mysteriis illoruin mentes radio suze visitationis illuminat, quos nulla umbra duplicitatis obscurat.” De Cur. Pastor. p. 3. The Syriac and Arabic versions understand it, “of a soul polluted with many sins.” And indeed it must be con- fessed in tavour of this interpretation, that all sin, especially jong continued in, indisposes the soul for the reception of divine wisdom, and renders it an incapable subject of divine grace ; whereas holiness composes our natures into such a regular temper, as is of all others the iwost fit to receive religious impressions, and to precure us the presence and aid of God’s grace. WISDOM. *: Cuayp. I. This sense has some countenance from what follows. i. : : | Ibid. Nor dwell in the body that ts subject unto sin.] Notavarely subject, or liable unto sin; that cannot be the meaning, for this all persons-who live in the midst of temptations must “beth danger of committing ; but the sense 1s, divine wisdom will not dwell in such who are bound, or subjected under.the dominion of sin: And so the Vulgate renders, ec hubitabit in corpore subdito peccatis ; and Coverdale’s version has it, ner dwell in the body that is subdued unto synne, or rather in bondage, as a debtor unto-sin; for so xalaxpeo¢, which is a forensic term, prey signifies. What the Jews observe of the spint of prophecy, that it dwells not with sadness, is true of divine wisdom, that it dwells not with wickedness, 7. e. in a soul subject or enslaved to vicious and irregular passions. And solong as men allow themselves in any known sin, suf- fer any vice wilfully to remain in them unsub-_ dued, so long they deprive themselves of. the presence or inhabitation of this heavenly guest: It is observable that the author here insists up- on purity both in body and spirit. Nor is wisdom, as understood by this writer, to be at- tained without such a perfect integrity. The body itself, indeed, as such, cannot be the ha- bitation of wisdom ; but through the strict u- nion which is between it and the soul, the:ac- tions and passions of one necessarily affect the other. Hence the pollutions of the soul-com- municate themselves to the body, as the defile- ments of the body vitiate and infect the soul. With great reason, therefore, it is required’as a necessary means towards obtaining wisdom, that we should glorify God both in our bodies and in our spirits, which is the advice. of the inspired writer, 1 Cor. vi. 20. Ver. 5. For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit.) ‘The Jews apply the name of spirit to several habits of the soul. ‘Thus we meet with the spirit of meckness, the spirit of wisdom amd understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, &c. Isa. ii. 2. and here the spirit of discipline: But I think, with Calmet, it would be better rendered, the Holy Spirit of instruction will flee de- ceit, that being a more proper word than: diset- pline, which our translators use; for the don- text requires that precise sense, and discipline -has a general and more lax sense in our dat guage ; some manuscripts according] ayicr arvua segiac, Which confirins this. Seneca has a very remarkable passage among his epit- tles to this purpose : “ Sacerinest in nobis spi- y read, Cuar. 1. ritus, bonorum maloruinque custos & observa- tor; & quemadmodum nos illum tractamus, ita S& ille nos.” ** There is a holy spirit resid- ing in us, who watches and observes both good and¢bad men, and will treat us after the same manner, that we treat him.” Nor is the rea- son which is assigned for the residence and a- bode of a demon, or good genius, with So- crates, after a very extraordinary manner, less worthy of notice: “ Do not wonder, says Max- imus Tyrius, that such a spirit’ should dwell with Socrates, whose purity of body, goodness. of soul, devotion towards God, and integrity to man, rendered him worthy of such a friend.” Dissert. 26. Ibid. And remove from thoughts that are with- out understanding, and will not abide when un- righteousness cometh in.) Probably the true reading here of the original is, ¢7d yeyipor aeur- trey, and not asvérey, as all the printed copies have it: For the context plainly shews, and even the sentence immediately foregoing, that not silly or weak thoughts, but guileful inten- tions, and deceitful practices are to be under- stood. What is here said of the spirit of in- struction, with respect to artifice and dissimu- lation, is no less true of those holy spirits who are the appointed guardians of mankind, with respect to unrighteousness in general; for these, who with much tender concern and affection- ate hopes minister to man’s salvation, are for- ced with regret to leave the care and habitation of the profligate and irreclaimable, and with sorrow cry out to one ancther, as the angels did in the Jewish temple, when through many profanations it was no longer fit for their charge, ucrabalrouer erlevesr, let us depart hence. Joseph. de Bell. Judaic. lib. 7. And it is very obser- vable, that when the wickedness of the old world was arrived to its height, God pronoun- ces, ¥ BH notloecin ra aru us ty Tole ardor, Gen. vi. 3. Ay spirit shall not always continue in such men; the sense of which passage our version expresses imperfectly by striving with men. See John xiv. 23. In confirmation of the present reading, azca- eyiuor asvvéror, it. is urged, (that the same ex- pression occurs below, ch. xi. 15. afi 88 acyicpnar asviroy, and it is hard to say, what can be the sense of acurliray here, acuizres is inconsiderate, without reflection, as well as silly, and without understanding ; and so it is to be taken in seve- ral places in the New Testament ; as likewise the verb ovrinys, which is translated fo understand, shonld be to consider, Matt. xiii. 19. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and under- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 39 standeth it not, % wi cures, and considercth it not, as the sense manifestly requires. So Mark vii. 14. axudle wx aarlec 3 uri, hear and consider ; the consequence of which consideration is axder- standing... See also this author, chap. vi. 1. “a- nerale % ourele.) Ibid. And will not abide when narighteousness cometh in.) It will have no fellowship with the ungodly. When the spirit of wisdom en- ters into the soul of a man, it enlightens and improves it; but if he afterwards abandons himself to wickedness, the good spirit will leave, and flee from him, for wickedness and wisdom cannot subsist together. This obser- vation was verified particularly in Solomon himself, who, when he followed the corrup- tions of an evil heart, was forsaken of wisdom, and fell into gross errors. The prophet therefvie with great judgment joins together the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, Isa. xi. 2. Ver. 0. For wisdom is a loving spirit.] i.e. A hearty well-wisher to, and promoter of the good of mankind, and, in particular a lover of their souls. But how is the punishing a blasphemer, an instance of the great love and philanthropy of this spirit? It seems rather a proof of its severity, than kindness and good nature. The answer and true sense is, that though wisdom be such a kind and merciful spirit, yet her regard to justice is such, that she will not acquit the blasphemer ; and so St Austin, De Mendacio, cap. 16. explains it. These may be supposed the words, and, as it were, soliloguy, of a wicked man, comforting himself in the midst of his evil courses against danger, because divine wisdom is a loving and compassionate spirit: And then the words im- mediately following will contain the answer to this vain subterfuge and weak pretence, wz. that notwithstanding the affectionate tender- ness of this spirit, which is confessed on ail hands, and displayed every where, yet cannot she act so inconsistently and unsuitably to her holy nature, as to excuse the blasphemer. And thus the Syriac version understands it, ‘* amni- cus est quidern hominum spiritus sapientia, at non justificat impium.” And Junius, after having stated the objection, answers it in like manner, ‘© Humanus quidem est, fateor, sed tamen non propterea injustus est, qui hominis blasphemi maledicta impune.abire sinat.””? See Comment in loc. Ibid. And will not acquit, &c.] (4 vx. % sig- nifies e¢ ¢amen in very many places of the New Testament, and in other authors. It shoulg be rendered here, zevertheless it will not, &c.) 40 Ibid. And will not acguit a blasphemer of his words.) Or, as the literal rendering of the Greek is, ‘ hold him guiltless with respect to his lips.” Such whose mouths are full of curs- ing, deceit, and fraud, and under whose tongue is ungodliness and vanity, who dare be out- rageous against God, or deceitful and injurious to their neighbour, shall be answerable for what is not conformable to truth and sincerity: All falsehood and deceit in general either open or concealed, and whatsoever proceeds from the heart or the lips that may do-hurt, is not only detestable to this divine Spirit, but will be pu- ‘nished severely by it. This in the book of Proverbs is called a froward mouth, which the Vulgar Latin translates sometimes @ mouth with two 'tongues. Ibid. For God is witness of his reins, and a true beholder of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue.] The sentiment here is like that in ing David's fine .charge to Solomon ; ‘* And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind, for the Lord search- eth all hearts, and understandeth all the ima- ginations-of the thoughts,”” 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. God’s judgment alone therefore is infallible as to mens real goodness and inward dispositions ; for whereas men judge of their neighbour’s heart by his words or actions, which are often deceitful, God, on the contrary, judges of mens words and actions as he sees their heart, and knows their reins. But the observation in this place relates not so much to God’s infinite knowledge in general, as to his discovery of guile and deceit in particular. Ver. 7. For the spirit of the Lord filleth the world.] 7..e. Is infinite and immense, is not bounded by any place or space, but spreads himself to all places that we can either see or imagine, and infinitely beyond; so that we cannot say, he is here, and not there ; thus far he reaches, and no farther. St Gregory de- scribes God, ‘‘ ¢ntra omnia non inclusus, extra omnia non exclusus, supra omnia non elatus, infra omnia non depressus :’’ Lib: 2. Moral. Or, to speak in the language of the old philo- sopher, he is a being, ‘* whose centre is every where, and his circumference no where. But nothing can equal what God says of himself, «© Am 1a God at hand, and not a God afar off ? can any hide himself in secret places that [ shall not see him? do not | fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord”? Jer. xxiii. 24. Psal. cxxxix. 7. (bid. And that which containeth all things, hath THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuap. I, knowlede of the veice.} Some manuscripts read ’ ewixer, which probably is the true reading, See Calmet and St Austin. in Speculo, and Orig. in Epist. ad Rom. cap. 9. lib. 7. Thus the Syriac and Arabic versions expound it, the former rendering, ‘¢ ille qui tenet omnia scienter habet vocem ipsius ;”” and the latter, * & qui creaturas omnes amplectitur, possidet notitiam vocis.”” Coverdale’s version is to the same purpose, ** and the same that uphotdeth all things, hath knowledge also of the voice.”” But the,rendering of the Vulgate here is very faulty, and even ungrammatical: As the former sen- tence respected God’s omnipresence, this takes in his infinite knowledge, which extends itself to, and takes cognizance of, what passes every where. With respect to our words, that of the Psalmist is most full, ** Lo, there is not a word in my tongue, but thou, O Lord, knowest it al- together ; Psal. cxxxix. 3. With respect to out actions, that of the prophet Samuel, ‘the Lord isa God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed ;”” 1Sam. ii. 3. where the reading of the LXX is very observable, Osi¢ yractar Kuproc, te. ‘* the Lord is a God of knowledges,”’ which, as Bishop Pearson expresses it, are so plural, or ra- ther znfinite, that ‘* of his understanding there is no number,” tig curéseae aure-en esi apiSucc. See the LXX in Psal. exlvii. 5. Ver. 9. And the sound of his words shall come unto the Lord, for the manifestation of his wicked deeds.] The marginal reading here seems pre- ferable, ‘¢ for the reproving of his wicked deeds.” Coverdale’s version is to the same ef- fect, ** the reporte of -‘hys wordes shall come unto God, so that -his wickedness shall be pu- nished ;”” to which agrees the rendering in the eneva Bible, ‘* the sound of his words shall come unto God for the correction of his iniquitics ;” And the Syriac and Arabic ver- sions are to the same purpose. And in this sense even our translators themselves have used intyx@, the very verse before, which they seem here to have forgot. Ver. 10, For the ear of jealousy heareth all things.| i. e. God’s jealous ear overhears every thing ; especially complaints against the dis- pensations of his providence cannot be kept se- cret from him, who is jealous of his own ho- nour. The Arabic version therefore of this passage is very just, ** ob Zeli causam res om- nes audit:’”? hence his name Deus Zelotes. There is no metaphor more frequent in ‘the prophets, than to represent sin as spiritual a- dultery. Jealousy, therefore, in a religious Cuae. I. sense,"means God's quick sense and keen re- sentment of his injured honour, that, like a suspicious and: abused husband, he is ever in- quisitiveand watchful, always listening to, and actuated by, every report and whisper, so that nothing can be concealed from, or pass unob- served by him, that reflects the least dishonour upon his judgmehts or proceedings. “Ibid. And the noise of murmurings is not hid.) Murmurings here may either respect God or man ; with respect to God, the sense is, that he will listen to, and remember all hard and ungodly speeches against him; that he will punish the secret complaints or open insults of such who dare to find fault with the wise me- thods of his providence, or from any seemingly unequal dispensations of it, call his justice or goodness in question. By murmurings with regard to men, we may understand, that de- traction, though a covert method of evil speak- ing, and generally conveyed by way of whis- per, and under the seal of secrecy, yet shall -neither be undiscovered, or unpunished. And in this latter sense St Austin understands this passage (De Mendacio, cap. 16.) andvis pleas- ed with the contrast of the expression : viz. * the noise of murmurings; which though imagined to be secret, and the slander of them conveyed privately, and as it were instilled into the ear, yet are as well known,”’ says he, ‘* to God, as if they were spoken aloud, or proclaimed with the voice of a trumpet.” . Ver. 11. Therefore beware of murmuring, which is unprofitable.| 7. e. 1s very mischievous and hurtful. This figure of speech, called dito- tes, or meiosis, when less is said than is meant, is frequent both in sacred and profane writings. Thus Prov. xx. 28. the wise man saith, “ a false balance is not’ good,”’ z. e. very bad, and hate- ful to God. Thus idols are called * vain things, which cannot profit,” 7. e. things which occa- sion much mischief. And the most shameful vices are called ‘* things which are not conve- tient,” Rom. ii. 28. see also Gen. xxxiv. 7. Nor are examples of this kind of speaking want- ing in Cicero, Livy, Longinus, and the best writers. Thus Virgil calls the great tyrant Busiris, illaudatus ; and the Stygian lake, zna- mabilis; though by his negative of praise, he intended -to express a great abhorrence of them. See more instances in” Martyn’s notes on the Georgics, lib. iii, p. 210.’ Ibid. And: refrain your tongue from backbit- ing ; for there’is no word so secret that shall go Sor nought, and the mouth that belicth, slayeth the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. ‘them. 4 soul.} We eannot better or move troly inter- pret this verse, than of those reasonings which. are contained in the five first verses of the next chapter ; nor can it be so consistently under- stood any other way ; for in the verses’ ¥ ferred to, we have all the particulars inserted in this, viz. the yoyluspic avapenie, the ualzraarz yaorons, NOt backbiting, as our version hath it, bnt such re- presentations of our mortal state, as are false and injurious to God the Creator—the pM Tux aaSpaiey in the strictest sense, explained by co ér tavroig roysouevor—ancl ¥ xevay, ON account of its pernicious consequences. —And lastly, the Soa xallapevdoneror, which literally sayeth the soul, by filling it with sueh vile priacipies as bring it to destruction. From hence the con- nection, between this and the next chapter, is both visible and necessary ; nor can we account for this verse so well in any other light. None of the commentators have attended to this, and therefore they expound this verse, either of dy- ing strictly so called, or of slander in general ; but if we understand it of slandering, with the | marginal reading and the Geneva bible, we must confine it rather to a particular branch of it, viz. the speaking evil of God, good men, or sacred things. St Bernard’s observation, that ‘¢ slander is like a serpent, that at the sa:ne time kills Several persons,” is very just, and ap- plicable here; for a slanderer, that takes a wicked pleasure in ridiculing or discrediting things sacred, ruins himself at length by his libertine notions and false principles ; he shoots his arrows against heaven, which are sure to fall on his own head; he poisons the persons that listen to him with consent and pleasure, and so draws them after him into the same ruin ; and he wounds religion, and consequent- ly God through its sides, by the scandal and groundless suspicions which he impotently en= deavours to fasten upon it. Ver. 12. Seek not death in the error of your life; and pull not upon yourselves destruction with the works of your hands.} It should be thus ren- dered, ** Seek not death by the error of your life ; and pull not upon yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.”’ The original words Gnagrs, and éxicwacSe, intimate that wicked men: labour to be miserable ; that they offer a sort of violence to themselves when they commit sin; and thereby oblige God, unwillingly, and as it were with reluctance, to inflict death on Salvian expresses this in most remark- ably strong terms; ‘* God,” saith he, ‘ is loth. to punish men, but they themselves, exigunt. 4 42 & extorquent ut perirent, vim etiam faciunt— manus inferunt pietati Divine, & omni pecca- lorum sceleri, quasi omni telorum genere, mi- scricordian Dei expugnant.” De Gubern. Dei, lib. i. As death and destruction proceed thus from the corropt abuse of mens own natural power and liberty of will, we hence see the ori- gin of evil. that it was best explained by a reference to the beginning of the next chapter ; so the like reference to it is equally proper and necessary in this, for much the same order of sentiments will be found in the cautions here given : * Seek not death,” é. e. court it not, & waa wis, which error of life is explained in 6, 7, 8, ‘and oth verses of the next chapter: and the following verses there, wz. 10, 11, 12. thatexpress a de- gree of wickedness which amounts to a cove- nant or compact with death, are here caution- ed against, by ** pull not upon yourselves de- struction ;”? for iauszzy dacOeey is as much above Gasy Saree, as acts of violence, cruelty, and in- justice, are above voluptuousness in the climax of a bad life. Ver. 13. For God made not death.] i.e. He designed not originally the entrance of death into the world. Man, whom God at first made an image of his own eternity, in his state of in- nocence had the pleasing prospect of immorta- lity ; and if he had continued upright, his o- bedience would have been crowned with. it. Bishop Bull hath a most excellent discourse up- on the state of man before the fall; it is his opinion there, that “ this never-ending life of happiness, promised to our first parents if they had continued obedient, and grown up to per- fection under that economy wherein they were placed, would not have been. continued in the earthly paradise, but only have commenced there, and been perpetuated in a higher state ; and afer such a trial of their obedience, as should seem sufficient to the Divine Wisdom, they should have been translated: from eartl: to heaven.” - Buli Opera Posth. Vol. LV. Disc. 5. Ibid. Neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the lixing.} God does nat sport himself, like a merciless tyrant, with the lives of his creatures, but is tender of their welfarc, ever disposed to do them good, and ready to communicate hap- piness to them, if their own obstinacy and evil behaviour do not obstruct it. And therefore, if, notwithstanding these gracious intentions of God in their favour, inendo finally perish, their raiscatriage niust be ascribed to their own per- yerse wilis, and, sinful abuse of their liberty, THE BOOK OF WISDOM. | observed of the former verse, ° Chap. I. And thus God declares expressly in Hosea Xilt.» g. ‘O Israel, thy destruction is from thyself,” 7. e. God is not the cause of any evil, either of sin or punishment ; but thy sin, whereby. thoy destroyest thyself, and thy misery, which is- the consequence of it, are both of thy own procur-, ing. See Lowth in loc. and Ezek: xxxiij. 1m, Some of the fathers, viz. Origen, Chrysostom, ‘Theophylact, &c. bave a pretty observation, and which is very pertinent to the passage bes fore us, upon Matth. xxv. 41. * Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared:for: the devil and his angels.” ’ They observe, -1, That the punishment of the wicked is not said. here to be prepared fiom the beginning of the: world, as the blessing is, lest tt should be thought: that God designed man’s. punishment before he, -sinned. 2. Uhat Christ saith, “ Come ye.bless-, ed of my Father,” but not, “ Go, ye cursed. of; my Father ;” because God is the author and. procurer of men’s happiness, but man is the on-| ly author of his own misery. 3. That pinish- ment is.mentioned as designed originally, not for man, but for the devil and his angels... See: Dr Whitby .in loc. Ver. 14. For he created things that thay might have thew being.| i. e. God created the werld and all things in it for perpetual duration ; and, that, under the direction of his over-ruling pro-: vidence, they might always continue in. beings. and particularly he designed this favour; for. mankind, whom at first he created to. be,im:: mortal, ch. ii. ver. 23. ‘This is.the sense of the Syriac version, which renders, E¢ im ipsa mundi. origine vitam expertem mortis veneno. {tic 7d eres, Jor existence, i. e. that they might continue 5 im Opposition to éx’ ewatia, ver. 13.] on ‘Ebid. And the generutions of the world were heu'thful.] [ywiaes, creations, i.e. things created, or creatures, | were healthful, or salxtary. ;. Dut Bs: és follows, perhaps the more natural.translatidm is, ave. All things which God made in their: several kinds were very good, and designed for, the use and benefit of man, and were. originally: appointed to be serviceable to him. There’ were naturally no hurt or noxious qualities iti the elements, till sin altered the constitutionie£ things ; but sin having made a breach in, the world, a sad traig.of evils entered with it s.for the. world being, made;-for man, and the place: of his, residence, it hath/felt; the effect; of. God's’ displeasure to increase,chis punishment.., And) since the curse consaquent.upon*the fall, famine, pestilence, deluges,. wild beasts, , diseases, pains, . sicknesses, have -been\in theix turns. his scourges- Citar. L THE BOOK -and destroyers, as if universal nature was armed against:him. Or the meaning maybe in par- ticular,. that all men (Nationes orbis terrarum, -as.the Vulgate reads, and Coverdale’s translation follows,) were created originally pure and health- ful,-both.as to soul and body, in the person of Adam, .the common root from whence they sprung ; and that there was no natural conta- gion, or hereditary taint, to draw him to disobe- dience, and, in consequence of that, to destruc- tion, Exterminium, as the Vulgate expresses it, alluding probably to Adam’s banishment out of paradise. Had Adam indeed continued inno- cent, he then, among many other great privi- leges, had transmitted downwards, by way of natural generation, or descent, a healthful and blessed temper of body ; but.our great protoplast and representative falling, besides the rectitude of his mind, he Jost also that blessed constitution of body, which would have been so great a pri- vilege to his offspring. Ibid. And there is no poison of destruction in them.| [@apuaxor caidpy, 1. €. destructive poison. But as what the author here says, ¢here is no poison, &c. is not true ; and as he is speaking of the original state of the creation, and of time past, one would imagine, that instead of xx isw, he wrote vx ir, there was no poison, &c.. viz. when God created them.} The Greeks often use pepuaxer in a. good sense: Thus we read in ‘Homer, ' Sapuaxa moana pir toSracueussutra, wonna 8 Avy pee ‘And therefore éaéégx is very properly here added ; as in Virgil Georgics we meet with malum viris, -where malum is not to be looked upon as a su- perfluous epithet, because virus is used ina good as well as a bad sense, as in Statius particularly. And that venexum itself does not always signify something destructive to life, see Virgil’s eight Eclogue, and Martyn on lib. i. Georg. p. 29. St Austin observes, that briars and thorns were not of the original product of the earth, much jess poisonous plants and herbs ; and that none of these had grown upon the face.of it, but for ‘man’s disobedience. De Genes. cont. Manich. lib. ic. 13. And Sr Basil, -Hexaém.‘Hom, 5. Accordingly the LXX render, Cursed be the ‘ground. for thy. sake, by émmalapalog 4. yi ty roc Eglo #; t.é. im, or by thy works of sin. And Aquila and. Theodotion. render in like manner, But ‘here it may. be asked, How. can this observa- tion of our ‘author be true, if in the natural world ‘there are confessedly poisonous plants and drugs ; and if what some good writers maintain be just, | OF WISDOM. 43. with respect to the moral world, viz. that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was for its specifical quality of a poisonous ma- ture both to the soul and body; and that the first man’s nature was tainted by tasting or cat- ing of it? Or how can it be justly said, tnat God did not create death, since he cid create that poisonous fruit, by which the human na- ture was so deadly poisoned? For the solution of this difficulty, see the learned Dr Jackson’s works, ‘Tom. ili. p. 29. Ibid. Nox the kingdom of death upon the cxrth? aby facireo the palace of death. Nor woul: death have hadany power, much less sovereigtr- ty over the earth, who now reigns absolute in <, hath made it her place of residence, and ever fixed her palace in it. For in the original it is not Zzcnea, but Bacfrecr, which means not hine- dom or dominion, but rather court or palace. Co- verdale renders adv Baciaeor, * the kyngdom of hell ;” intimating, that the devil’s power was usurped, and his sovereignty of man’s own erec- tion. Calmet renders, “ Le roi des enfers n’ a- voit pas son palais sur la terre.” Ver. 15. For righteousness is immortal.. Vt this verse was included in a parenthesis, the sense of the context would be better connected, and more perfect ; and I have the pleasure to observe, that Coverdale’s translation doth so in- clude it: The meaning seems to be, that obedi- once would not only have made man immortal, and translated him from an earthly to a hea- venly paradise ; but, as the verb is in the present tense, it may intimate further, that righteous- ness, cantinued in, would have raised man to an unchangeable state of goodness, and his inno- cence have been crowned with everlasting per- severance: As the angels, who continued in their duty when the rest revolted, are finally estab- lished in their integrity and felicity. Calmet gives another sense of this place, that righteous- ness has always existed, and shall never cease to be; for there have been from the beginning, and will ever continue to’ be, some good persons, in every age, who are as shining lights amidst a perverse and crooked generation; so that, as Christ assures us, Matth. xvi. 18. the “ gates of hell” shall not absolutely prevail against the church. As ‘righteousness is a blessing not ori- ginally foreign to our nature, one cannot say that it entered into the world at a particular time only, as death did, and therefore is very properly described to be “ peregrinum et ad- ventitium malum.” Faust. Rheg. de Grat. Dei. Ver. 16. Bul ungodly men with their works an 2: ‘ 44 swords, called it to them ; for when they thought to haze it their friend, they consumed to nought, and made acovenant with it, because they are worthy to take part with it.) We meet with the like phrase, ‘“ cf making a covenant with death,” isa. xxviii. 14, 15. and upon the like occasion. 1 shall transcribe it at large, because it will give great light to this passage: ‘* Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement ; when the over- flowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our re- fuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.; therefore, thus saith the Lord, your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agree. ment with hell shall not stand; when the over- flowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.” This passage of Isaiah, is certainly alluded to and imitated by our au- thor in this verse. But.the words in the original, and in our version, are so perplexed and obscure, that it will be very difficult, I had almost said. , impossible, to.give any translation of this verse, and many others.in.this book, that shall answer truly to the letter, and yet be free from obscu- rity. The words, as. they now stand, are cer- tainly intricate and confused, and seem by some accident to have suffered: a. transposition. - Was I at liberty to.attempt mending the obscurity of this verse, it should be by a transposition too of the Greek words, by altering the-place only of. iraxneay %, thus—iacy nyncaucvos avriy curdixny eOerlo ar pag auriv, % iraxacay, S7i abi, &e. i. e. they. call (death) to them, and looking upon it as their friend, they made a covenant with it; and con- sumed away, because they deserved to share in it.” But tho’ this.easy. transposition would. make the construction very clear, yet I dare not war- rant it, without plainer authority, from MsS, or ancient versions. Let us then see what con- struction may be put upon this verse, as the present reading, is, by attending closely to the context ; and from what goes before in the 11th. and’ 12th verses, and what follows after in the whole second chapter, we may in gencral make this observation, that there seems here to be an. intended climax, to shew the progress of wicked mens attachment to death, like that in Psal. i. 3. to shew their progress in iniquity.; they first “call, or invite death to them;” next, they “ hold it, or treat it as a friend; and, lastly, they ‘‘ enter into covenant or strict union. with. it.” And this progress seems to be represented und explained at large in the next chapter. The {rst step is in their ‘ reasonings about death,” ‘THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuap. contained in the first five verses, wherein they put it in a false, but the most favourable light to themselves that it is capable of. The next step is ‘* a-debauched. life,” founded on-the fore- going false principles, and recommended in the next four verses. or friendship with death ; and. the consequence of it is, they consume, and waste away, and shorten their lives, which is represented by ivaxy- TAY. their resolving upon “ acts of flagrant injustice, and malicious wickedness ;” which is as it were entering into “ covenant with death,” and makes their attachment to it inseparable, wiz. “ they die for ever.” But this will appear more fully when we-explain the particulars of the next chapter. Lshall.observe here; once for all, that We are not to imagine this book to be only a collection of confused discourses or independent sentences ; for, from the little sketch. here given, and the argument of the several chapters, to every attentive reader a regular method. will ap- pear plain and-observahle. Ver. 16. This verse would perhaps be bet- ter, and more clearly rendered thus: “ For un- godly men with their works and words called him: to them ; for when they thought to have — him. their friend, they. subjected. themselves to him, and. made a covenant with. him, because . they. are worthy. to take part with him, i. e. to belong to, or to be his portion or inheritance,” See Prov. xx. 21. where what is jepic in. the ~ LXX is by Symmachus and Theodotion render- ed xangorouéa, As the incoherence of the sense raises a suspicion that the Greek word iraxnoay is faulty, it. has been: conjectured that the aus thor wrote uxdleynoar, “ they subjected themselves to him, they became his subjects, and made an agreement with him,” as it follows. Job xl. 23. (in our version xli. 4.): Ofotlas pila ov Srabixn ; ainin 88 auriv Sao aidror.;.* Will he make a cove- nant with thee? Wilt thou take him for a ser. vant for life ?” The obscurity of the construction is in a great measure owing to avric and ixaiee, but-it is.to.be- observed, that where the words avri¢ (or Soe) and ixcvec are used in different parts of a sentence in good writers, they signify different persons or things, as Ac and dle in La- tin, and avi. to be referred, to.the nearer, ixdvoc to the more remote. See chap. ii. 24. xi, 10. XV. 17. XVi. 3; 4. and’so it is.in.this place, where auToS delongs to "Ades txeivoe to Qarefac 5 and the translation of the three last. verses may be thus, supposing that the author-wrote vzddynoar. “For he created all things for continuance, and. the This is, entering into society , The last. step.is. marked out, ver. 10. by | THE. BOOK creatures of the world were salutary, and there was no destructive poison in them, nor palace of Hades upon earth (for righteousness is im- mortal); but ungodly men, by their works and. words called him (Hades) to them; taking him for a friend, they made themselves his subjects, and entered into an agreement with him_as be- ing worthy (or deserving) to be the portion of the other,” viz. death. And Oaratoc and “Aduc are here represented as persons (as they are by St Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 55. and St John, Revel. vi. 8. xx. 14. Isaiah xxvii. 14, 15.) and “ays (who is probably the same with AsaCoacc, xi. 24. where he and death are in like manner joined together) is here said (ver. 14.) to have a palace upon earth, as a king ; and death may he considered as his minister, or executioner, agreeably to that of the author to the Hebrews, x1. 14: him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil; so ‘Auaflia is often mentioned as a person, Rom. vi. and elsewhere ; and # A/x#, justice, or divine vengeance, below in this author, chap. xi. 20. and Acts xxviii. 4. There is the same mistake in our version of these words vz» and éxe in 2 Tim. xi. 26. where wits. relates to AsaCuav, éxefre to Ow.] By others this verse, as it stands in the Cuapr. I: present reading, is thought to contain a keen. satire, in a continued, and not obscure metaphor, . upon the folly of those wicked men who short- ened their days by their debaucheries, and liv- ed so fast as if they were enamoured of death, and impatient for its cold embraces. Hence the caution given ver. 12. yi Qnavre barajoy, * seek not, i. e. do not covet, do not cagerly desire to pursue death.” ‘The ground of which caution is well explained in the words before us, ver. 16. “ Ungodly men with their hands (beckoning) and with their.words (persuading, i. e. with all the importunity of fond and passionate lovers) | call (or invite) it to them ; esteemiing it as their friend (their minion or darling) they consumed away, or languished for it,.ézaxnoay (sc. tee) and they made a covenant (as it were of marriage) with it, because they are worthy to ‘take part with it (and be joined: unto it in the closest union.)” ‘For the given sense of the verb éraxyoa . vid. Theocrit. Idyll. ii. ver. 29. which construc- tion of the. word is.very natural and proper in this place, as it preserves the climax undisturb-. ed. The phrase, “ they made a covenant with death,” only expresses the great security of pro-. fane scoffers, who set the divine judgments at defiance. The passage is, well illustrated by another in Lucan, lib. ix. where, to express their safety from the danger of death, it is said of-the OF WISDOM. Psylli (famous for extracting poisons) Pax lis cum morte duta est. Vid. J. Cleric. in loc. 45 e€ua rh wf Tue Arcument.—The author having repre- sented in the former chapter, the original of sin and death, as tov sadly exemplified in our first parents, procecds to shew the contagious effects and terrible consequences.of stu upon their pos- terity. For this purpose, he introduces some lt bertines reasoning (if it may be so called ) in their loose way, in favour of their darling opinions, “ That life is short and uncertain, and there- Sore its sensual gratifications to be pursued with eugerness, and without delay: Thut there ws no real distinction between good and evil, und there- Sore allacts of oppression and injustice, such as may best suié mens convenience and interest, are allowable and commendable : That the soul is na- turally mortal, and is annihilated with the body : That there is no future state, nor any account to be given hereafter of mens wicked and evil courses in this life 2”? These poisonous princi- ples are represented from the beginning to ver. 21. of this chapter 5 and though set cut to the best advantage, are not intended to cuutnte- nance men in bud notions of religion, im false opinions of God, and wrong sentiments of the soul; but are only opinions introduced with un intention to confute them; aud therefore, on the very entrance of this chapter, the au- thor, to prevent auy possible mistake as to his tatention and meaning, pronounces such notions and conclusions to be not right, ver. 1. and at the end of this, and mm the three following chap- ters, confutes then at large, determines in fit- vour of virtue and goodness, and shews the cer= tainty of their reward. Qur life is short.and tedious.) 1 think the word tedious, which is used by the old En- glish translations, improper here; it occurs very rarely in the sense of our version ; refers more generally to time, and rather implies a long duration of.it: So that short and tedious seem wrong coupled together, It would. have been better rendered, and with less ambiguity, short and painful; and so the original indeed signifies, . éatyos 3 avanpog 6 biog npr, which is confirmed. by the Syriac and Arabic versions. The expression here is like that of Jacob’s: ** Few and evil have the days of the years of iny life been,” Gen. xlvii. 9. ard that of Job, ‘s Man, that is born of a woman, ts of few days,” 46 and full of trouble, ch. xiv. 1. allowing only for the difference of the speakers. Ibid. In the death of man, there is no reme- dy.{ There is no prevention of, or remedy against mortality. Death is the portion of every man, though the particular time is un- certain; according to that of Job, ‘* His days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed bis bounds that he cannot pass ;” ch. xiv. 5. But neither does our author, nor this passage of Job, counte- nance that notion of the Predestinarians, That every particular man’s time of life is so abso- lutely circumscribed, and so strictly and per-~ emptorily assigned him by God, that nothing can shorten or lengthen it beyond such prede- termined bounds: For though all things, even the number of our months, are allowed to be foreknown by God, yet does it not from hence, nor from any passage of Scripture appear, that he has predetermined the precise and particu- lar time of any person’s death by any ab- solute decree: For if every man’s time of life is unconditionally fixed, to what purposes serve the promises of long life to good and pi- ous persons, where God sees it best for them ; or the many threats of a short one to the un- godly and wicked ? Or why does the wise son of Sirach say, that ‘* There is a time when there is success in the hand of the physician,” or that ‘ they should pray unto the Lord, that he would prosper that which es give for ease and remedy to prolong life??? Ecclus. xxxviit. 13, 14. For vain is the help of art, and even prayer itself must be supposed fruitless, where the case is unalterable, and the doom irrevoca- ble. The Vulgate renders, In fine Homints non est Refrigerium, from a corrupted copy proba- bly, which read 7a%c, from iain, Refrigerar, Lictitia perfundor ; instead of tas, the true reading. Coverdale’s translation follows this mistake. (But it may be questioned whether any such word as far or fzrc¢ is to be found.) Ibid. Neither hath any man been known to have returned from the grave.] Both the obser- vation and inference of these vain reasoners is false ; for that persons have returned from the grave, appears trom several instances under the Old Testament ; 1 Kings xvii. 22. 2 Kings iv. 35, xiii. 21. Nor does it follow, if there were no instances of persons returning from thence, that the dead altogether cease to be, or that there is no future hfe after this, as such liber- tines would gladly infer. See Anacreon, Ode THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Crap. ‘TH, 59. who has many thoughts and expressions like the loose and jovial ones in this chapter. Ver. 2. We were born-at all adventure.] i. ¢. We came into the world by chance, without any appointment or direction of providence’ ‘And as we-came from nothing, {Vulgate reads, Ex nihilo nati sumus, which Coverdale follows,} so upon our deaths shall we return to nothing again. This language is very natural and a- ~ greeable to the persons here introduced speak- ing, vez. Materialists and Infidels. Ibid. Anda little spark in the moving of our heart.) According to the notions of these fatse reasoners, the soul was nothing else but a little fire about the heart, the smoke of which was perceivable by our respiration, and the sparks of it by our words: That when this fire was extinguished, as they imagined it was by death, the body was reduced to ember or ashes, and the soul vanished into air. In like manner, theatheistical philosophers, who made atomsthe - ptinciples of all things, thought. the soul to consist of some little brisk fiery spirits, which kept in for a while, but were afterwards extin- guished by death. Hence we find them using the similies of air, fire, or smoke, with respect to the soul. The Latin also, and the Hebrew, itis well known, express both spirit and wind by the same word: And from this agreement only in name, some, for want of better argu- ment, have been so weak as to infer, that they agree likewise in nature, and at last mix toge- ther. The true reading of the original, and which occurs in all the copies, and is followed by the Oriental, and most ancient English translations, is 5 acyor cowie ; the Vulgate also - with Junins, render it in like manner by Ser- mo. By which we are to understand reason, or the soul: That this is the true reading, ap- pears undeniably from a parallel passage in Lu- cretius, whose philosophy is the same with that of these false reasoners. Consilium, quod nos animum mentemque vocamus, Idque situm media in regione pectoris heret. Lib. II. And from that of Empedocles, Aiux » abosmoss wepinapoisy ist vonua. Our translators, it is certain, made use of a cor- rupted copy, which read éatyor cai, and have given the sense accordingly. If there was any authority for this reading, or just reason for its preference, (see Flamin. Nobil. in loc. ap. Polyg!. though it seems to be owing only to Cuap, IT. affinity ofsound,) I should chuse to read the whole thus, % oavyec cambip ixirnce napdiag muar, i. €. a little spark of fire moves, or hath put our hearts in motion. (Ver. 3. daxubraclas, will be dissipated, not shall vanish.) .* ; Ver. 4. Our name shall be forgotten.in time.} When we are dead, our names will not live long after us, but our memorial shall perish with us ; our actions will not be remembered in the next generation, much less in. future ages : So that as to the shame or infamy arising from them, we are quite unconcerned and indifferent as to what posterity may. think or say of them. As there is a commendable ambition in good men to be remembered with honour hereafter, which is a spur to-virtuous and laudable actions; so a carelessness as to the present or future opi- nion of mankind, is an encouragement to wic-. kedness, and a certain sign of a profligate and abandoned mind. “Ibid. Our Life shall pass away as.the trace of a cloud.| as ixen vegianc, as the traces of a cloud, which is unintelligible; probably it should.be & xm, which properly signifies dunugo, down, and there is transferred to any slight and yielding matter. The translation may be, “ as the soft substance of.a cloud, which is continually pass- ing away, and changing its figure and situation.” Job: viie g..‘* As the cloud. is consumed. and vanishes away.” Ibid. Our tfe shall he dispersed as a mist, that is driven aay by ihe beams of the sun, and over- come with the heat.tkereof.} Bugurbercce umd Segporilog aure, made heavy with heat; and so Vulg. a ca- lore illius aggravata—both very improper. Over- come with heat, according to-our version, is not agreeable to the Greek ; and oppressedacith heat, as in the margin, is.no better. Big with heat, has no better pretence to be allowed, because in the sentence. inwnediately foregoing, mention is made of dispersion by the-rays of the sun. If I might. indulge conjecture, I-would, to avcid: these difficulties, read here pasarleisauai Sepusrrfes, i. e. “ wasted.away with-the heat thereof.” So- phocles applies the same word to time, war’ é péyas x pores eapaird re % prtyer——See Ajax Flagell. [This conjecture of paparbeica Umd Stpucrnios, in- stead of fapurSéirx, the common reading, is con- firmed ‘by:a passage, ch. xix. 21.] Ver. 5; For cur time iva very shadow that pass- eth away.|) Rather, ts the passage of a shadow : i.e. Life ws as the passing by of a shadow.) The comparison of life to a eluud, and a shadow, is almost every where to be met with; but Mr THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 47 Norris has set this latter resemblance in the best, and, as it were, a new light; as that “ our state here is partly life and partly death, as the other is partly light and partly darkness,—that like a shadow, wherever it passes, it leaves no track behind it—that it seems to be something, when indeed it is nothing—that it is always al- tering, and ends on a sudden ; and, when at its full height and prime, is often nearest to its de- clension, as a shadow is, to disappear when at its full- length :”* Miscellanies, p. 178. Hence Pindar calls men tgiuesan, people for a day, and, upon account of the shortness and uncertainty of life, the ancient. patriarchs, though.their span. was much longer than ours, thought it hardly worth while to build houses, but contented them-. selves to-soiourn and grow grey in tents.. Ibid. For it ts fast.sealed; sa that no man com- eth again.| The Arabic version. runs: Est enim res obsignata (scil. mors nostra) quam nemo re- coctwerit. The comparison here is taken from the ancient custom of sealing the grave or se- pulchre, and roliing a great stone to the mouth of it, to make it the more secure and undisturb- ed. See Dan. vi. 17. Matth. xxvii. 66. Pau- sanias has a thought which very much resem- bles this, ¢4 6 Master xadiy, & akyeow ta aura ToP- aL 4Eror "Adny nexacisda: urd Te Wavraroc, % OE tmaveroiy wee avbic &% avrs,i.e. “ Pluto has a key, and with. it, as they say, he locks up the place commonly called Hades, and from thence no man re- turns ;” lib. v. c. 20. See Apoc. i. 18. ‘Holy Job has the like sentiment upon-death, chap. vii. 9, Io. ‘ As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he that goeth. down to the grave shall come up no more ;. he shall return no more to his house, neither shail his place know him any more.” Where it is very ob- servable, that the LXX express this. impossibili- ty of returning by three strong negatives follow- ing one another, v8 ¥ xi évispiy, repeated twice in the same verse: Ver. 6. Leé us enjoy the good things that are present.] amronaUoW/AeY tov Grier. cyxéory, “he writer of the tar’E%ixar peyaawr, supposed to be Aristotle, makes a just and proper distinction between zane and dyafa’ The former includes virtues, and the good and: commendable actions pro- ceeding from thence ; the latter, power, riches, glory, pleasures, and the hke: Kaad wir, ofer,72¢ apelac, % Tog em avTOY mpateg—ayabx. &, apy? y, @Aeror, sokar, TIMI, FL Tenure. Ibid. Let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth.] i. e. whilst the good things or crea- tures are in their prime, or rather, whilst we our-. 48 selves are vigorous and young, which is the sense of the Syriac and Arabic versions; youth being the season for the high relish of pleasure, for chearing the heart and gratifying the senses ; for every aged person may say with Barzillai, “Can I discern between good and evil? Can I taste what I eat, or what I drink? Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing wonien ?” 2 Sam. xix. 35. There is also a third sense of these words, zz. “ Let us live as if we were young again,” which Grotius prefers, and seems cauntenanced by the Alexandrian MS. {in the Greck distinguish thus, % ypnoouela rH XJice, ws tv veoTHle, omesaiwc, “ And let us, as being in our youth, use the creatures carefully, that is so as to let slip no occasion of pleasure.” So that there seems to be no foundation for Gro- tius’s sense, as if we were young again, for it does not appear that these are old men who are here arguing in this manner, but rather young ones, who, ver. ro. declare against “ paying any re- verence to the grey hairs of the aged.” The Alexandrian MS reads, os vi7v/Je¢, I suppose, for os tx vedrvloc, the meaning of which would be, ““as we have done from our youth up;” but even this would not prove them old men. Ver. 7. Let no flower of the spring pass by us.] Flowers have always been esteemed sym- bols or emblems of joy, and in the revellings of debauchees they were usually crowned with them ; and so peculiar are they to times of pub. he festivity and rejoicing, that they are looked upon as incompatible with mourning. The spring seems more particularly to be mentioned, because it is the chief season of flowers. But some copies instead of tapos read ar8poc aépec, Which Junius prefers: But if this reading be admitted, I would not with him understand it barely of fine weather jucundus vér, but rather, “ Let no fragrant breath of air arising from the wine or ointments, (just before mentioned,) pass by or escape us.” Ofvog arfoguiac, vinum odoratum & Sragrans, see Hesychius in voce, was not unusual in such meetings. ‘Ver. 8. Let us crown ourselves with rose-buds before they be withered.) It is certain that not only the guests at the feasts of the ancients, but the rooms, were strewed with flowers, and the waiters, and even the drinking-bowls crowned with them. Roses are mentioned here in par- ticular, because the rose is reckoned to be epwlog gurir, the plant uf love, and was accordingly con- secrated to Venus; and rose-buds are symbols of youth, and of the spring, and from their soon withering, the properest emblems of the short- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuay. If ness of life, and the fleeting nature of its plea. sures. See Anacreon Od. 5. de Rosa, and Od. Ver. 9. This ts our portion, and our lot is this.) Coverdale’s version is more explicit, “ For that is our porcyon, els get we nothynge.” This is the language of Epicurus’s scholars, the sun of whose ethics was, Dux vite dla voluptas. Life, in the opinion of such libertines, is bare existence without their sinful pleasures ; and it is observable, that in Plautus, Catullus, and Martial, and such writers, wvere is taken for a merry life, as Gir is sometimes among the Greeks: And in this sense we are to understand that old inscription, Amicz, dum vivimus, vivamus, Those that are persuaded that the soul is ab- solutely mortal, their conclusion must be that of these sensualists ; such persons act agreeably to their own principles, if they pursue every thing that their appetites are inclined to, ‘be it pleasure or profit. Such maxims, and a con- duct suitable to them, may be expected from persons who had no views beyond the grave. And therefore the Epicureans endeavoured to efface the belief of another life -out of men’s minds, as well knowing that men could never arrive to an undisturbed sensuality, whilst any notions of futurity checked them in the com- mission of their crimes. Accordingly —Metus ille foras procceps Acherontis agendus. Lucret. lib. iii. Ver. 11. Let our strength be the law of jus tice.| The assertion here, that right is founded in might, is a very old opinion, as old proba- bly as Nimrod, but long since confuted by the wisest men and soberest philosophers: “ Fal- sun est, says St Austin, quod a quibusdam non recte sentientibus dici solet, id esse jus, quod ei, qui plus potest, utile est;” De Civit., Dei, lib. xix. Upon which, Ludov. Vives re- marks, that this false and dangerous opinion is confuted by Plato, lib. i. De Repub. Hobbs in vain endeavoured to revive this notion, so injurious in its consequences -to the property, and destructive of the peace and comfort of mankind. Ver. 12. Let us lie in wait for the righteous, because he is not for our turn.| i.e. Let us lurk privily for the innocent without a cause, as it is expressed, Prov. i. 11. where there is the like consultation of the wicked.’ It is no wonder that Atheists and unbelievers, and persons of such vile and libertine principles, should en- courage one another in wickedness, and in at- tempting the most outrageous acts of violence Cuap. II. and injustice, in the manner here represented, especially against such, as are most likely to cross or contradict. their pleasures, and to re- rove them in the sinful use of them. Such a Rind monitor is not for the turn of the wicked, he is rather 8vzxpnses, as the original has it, 7. e. officious, troublesome, and disagreeable to them. St Cyprian, who quotes this passage of our author, reads accordingly zsuavis, lib. ii. cont. Judzos; and so does St Austin, lib. xvi. c. 20. De Civit. Dei.. There is exactly the same expression, and upon the same occasion in Isa. iii. 10. According to the version of the LAX Sioouty rev Sixes, ore duexenses nui tst, from which this seems to be taken ; and it is the more pro- bable, because in the Greek text of Barnabas, where this passage of the Book of Wisdom is cited, the reading is, Sicoper tiv Sixasy, and not inedpevowmer, as in the common editions. Ver. 14. He was made to reprove our thoughis.} tyérero nuiv ex¢ Encl yor trromy nuwr. Our version seems here neither just nor proper: ‘The meaning is, He is a reprover of our schemes and designs. The Arabic renders it consilia nostra; and the Syriac, est nobis objurgator cogitationum nostra- rum: Thus I would understand ¢tyéJo, and not in the sense of our translation. Ver. 15. He ts grievous unto us, even to behold, Jor his life is not tke other mens.] The very sight of him is uncasy and disagreeable to us ; for the presence of a good man is a check to the proceedings of the wicked ; and his-virtu- ous example, and singular goodness, is a living reproof witch they do not relish in their sight. Hefice the many attempts and combinations of ungodly men against the life of the righteous, so frequent to be met with in sacred and pro- fane history.- ‘Thus Joseph’s virtue was an eye-sore to his brethren, and therefore they conspired his destruction. Thus David, for his superior excellence and uncommon merit, was persecuted by Saul. Hence St Peter observes of the wicked, that it is their custom to speak evil of, and abuse ** such as run not with them to the same excess of riot,” 1 Pet. iv. 4. And St John asks this question, ‘‘ Wherefore did Cain, who was of that wicked one, slay his brother ?” And returns for answer, ‘* Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous,” 1 John ivy. 12. The like may be observed of the primitive martyrs and confes- sors, who were persecuted, afflicted, tormented, because, instead of countenancing fashionable and popular vices, they chose rather to reprove and rebuke them. Tacitus assigns this as the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 49 cause of the death of Thraseas Patus, ‘ That Nero could not bear even the sight of that se- nator, who was of so unblemished a character, that his life was, as it were, animated virtue it- self” : [Pbid.. Simple mind, vie cxxxor, rather. harm- less.) time, fulfilled a long time.| It may be asked, with what propriety Enoch is. here said to have fulfilled a long time; since he was the shortest lived of the, patriarchs before the flood, and lived but 365 years ?. To this the answer is very obvious, ‘Lf we- measure not. his life by, the number of: years, but by. the perfection of his goodness, $7, dxpax ageriic zeaciwsw, by his consum- mate virtue. and extraordinary sanctity in the corrupt age he lived:in, he may be allowed, to all.useful purposes.of living, to have fulfilled-an honourable age.” Evuseb. Prep. Evangel. lib. vii. c. 8. .So of Abraham. itis said, Gen, xxv. 8, that “* he died in a good old age, an old man, and full of. years ;”. Expressions exaggerated on purpose ‘to.denote an.extraordinary. length of Jife. But here again it may be as justly en- quired, how .Abraham can properly be said to die ina good old age; when, if.we compare his age with. those that lived before him, it comes much short of theirs; for one hundred seventy- five. years may be considered as a small point of time, with: respect to those several bundreds of years that the fathers before the flood arrived at; see Gen. y,. Amd inthe computation of the lives of .the fathers after the flood, Gen. xi..we find all‘of them, except one, to be older than Abraham. was. .. The, true answer therefore to this diffich}ty is, that Abraham died.in a.good ald. age, nat.as.to the measure of his life by days THE: BOOK. OF., WISDOM. Ver. 13. He being. madé perfect iit a short: 63 or years, but in regard to the great progress he had made in faith and holiness. [Ver. 14. Therefore hasted be to take bim a- way from among the wicked. Yd rere torevoe ix iow aerrgiac, i.e. hastened him from amidst wicked- ness. | Ver. 15. Neither laid they up this in their minds, that bis grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.] '#70- xomt, though it often signifies visitation by punish- ment, yet here means that: favour and regard which God shews to his elect ; andthe sense of the whole passage is, that the wicked, among. whom Enoch conversed, considered not the true reason for. which.God took him, that it was an. act of his mercy, rather. than severity, to remove a saint, “-whose righteous soul. was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked,” to a state of purity, perfection, and happiness ;: much less did they consider, that he was taken up alive into heaven, to be an example of that happiness. which. God. has prepared for those who walk with him and. please him ; and also a proof, that our bodies. are capable of immortality. Nor did they make any use or improvement of his translation, though it certainly was the noblest exhortation .to piety and virtue that can be im- agined: The construction of the Greek in the: former part of this verse is singular, ager iXrJor is a more usual way of expression, than of & dirk, 4 ga VOTO EC & ; ; : {If some other verb be-not wanting at the end of the verse, icay must be understood, isrJe¢ noay, 2. €, ador, and sO voroarkec and Sévfec. So xix. 18. uebap—poloueva, SC. nv, 2 Cor. v. 12. Serle, sc. iouiy, 2. €. Sour.) The latter part of this verse being-tze same with chap. iii. 9, should be also translated alike. }: Ver. 16: But tiie righteous that is dead, shail. condemn the ungodly which are living.| Our ver- sion and the commentators understand this in the future tense, following the present -accent- ing of the Greek; but the Vulgate reads-the passage in the present tense, “ Condemnat autem jastus mortuus vivos impios,” which all.the an- cient English versions follow ; Junius also and Galmet render in like manner: So that preba- bly the original reading was that of the Com- plut. eds xeJaxgit. If we follow this reading, the passage may relate to any righteous person speedily taken away, whose good life condemns or leaves without excuse the wicked that outlive him, and grow old in their wickedness ; or it may. relate.to Enoch in particular, who may. be 64 said to condemn his cotemporaries, either vir- tually by his word and doctrine, or judicially, by denouncing God’s judgments against the ungod- ly of his time. See the same expression ap- plied to Noah upon a like occasion, Heb. xi. 7. {This verse may depend upon the former, and be connected to it by understanding, and re- peating the particle ov, thus é7: yap 4 tacoo— weie éxnenTolg aurs, or xalaxpives & (the same as 4 or xalaxpiver) Sixas, Se. “ Unto his chosen. And that the righteous who is dead condemneth the ungodly who are living. For they will see the end of the wise, and yet will not consider what God in his counsel,” &c. i. e. for though they see—yet will they not consider, &c. Ibid. And youth, that is soon perfected, the many years ana old age of the unrighteous.] This is what the prophet Isaiah means, when he says, chap. Ixv. 20. “ That the child that has an early sense of goodness and perfects holiness be- times, shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner, being an hundred years old and confirm- ed.in wickedness, shall die as an over. grown child and be accursed.” Ver. 17. ind shall not understand to what end the Lord hath set him in safety.) The wicked triumph over a godly man suddenly -snatched away, as if God had forgotten to be gracious, and was unmindful of his piety, or was induced through some ‘secret fault to cut his life short ; :not considering (for such have not the ‘knowledge of God or his counsels) that it was in mercy to him and for his greater safety and reward, This is assigned by learned men as the reason why, Lazarus is mentioned, Luke xvi. as dying before the rich man, because God graci- ously removed hiny from the’ evils of life, but continued the profligate in order to his repent: ance, or to fill up the measure of his iniquity, Ver. 18. They shall see him and despise him, but God shall laugh them to scorn.] Grotius says, that the future is used in this description for the Preeteritum, and calls it a Hebraism ; though it is certain that such changes are not unusual in the best classic writers—the repetition, ¢hey shall see him, is beautiful, upon the supposition of this book’s being metrical; and is otherwise very defensible, especially as supported by the authority of all the editions ; I should else have thought (xeJola: the true ‘reading, which seems to make the opposition in the words following more beautiful; and so small an alteration might easily be occasioned by the nearness and affinity of the sound. w few he Abid. nd they shall hereafter bea vile care THE BOOK OF..WISQOM. Ca8e.| Tomre wild revo ete plomn rier. Can all the wicked before referred to with propriety: said to be a vile carcase, or, to compose one ft carcase? and is not this sense-in some measu comprized in the sentence follotving? Ps weovrras May be the true reading here, whith opens a new sense, and yet ‘proper to the ocea} sion, viz. that they should be ‘confounded’ att fall shamefully ; which signification: ofopa ‘wilt equally admit of; and it is as certain, that ee ‘ts frequently to be understood ‘in the ‘sense off iv; and I have the satisfaction to find this interpre. tation confirmed by the authority of the Vulgate, which reads, runt posthac decidentes sine bonere; and by the Syriac version, Erunt posthdc'ty ruinam turpissimam. -Junius also is to the same purpose ; and to these agrees the Geneva Bible, which renders, “ they shall-fall hereafter ‘with: out “ honour.” Vi [From the Vulgate and Oriental rendering, {t seems more probable that tooJa: is the’ trdt reading, as erunt occurs in them all. It has beer thought that the author, instead of e¢ wliya the present reading, wrote es (xoypae armor, a vile laughing stock, with which ei vCpw is very 'ivell joined 5 tcorJas etc (xouma, is (eagbioorfas; ase Slow is vCpPivorlar. Isaiah xxviii. 18. toeode vt xelamarnua, i. €. xolawalnbiceSe, ye sHATESBE trod upon, Job xxvii. 14. ae cpayty todfar! i, € opayieSieorlas.] ML Ibid. And a reproach among the dead forvoer: more.| ae ve pw éy vex pore 3f aiovos. This expression may seem to relate to the everlasting disgrace ‘of wicked men ix infernis, that, like the giants of old, they shall stand upon.a lasting record theres but it is more probable, it should -be taken:ini & more limited and confined sense, for the phrasé vexpol aidroc Or 81 aiovec, is a Hebraism, and ‘miy, receive some light from Lamentations ‘iii: 6.’ where the prophet, :complaining of his terrible situation in his dungeon, says, he has'made me’ stay in dark places, uc rex pee aiavoc, veluté mortiek Seculi, as those that have been long déad; as those that lie buried in their graves. And that the term evermore, does not here mean eternity, strictly so called, seems the more probable’ froth the order of the description, because the! judg ment, or day of accounts, is mentioned after, ver. 20. A reproach, &c.} [ Rather, among those whe have been long dead, or the dead of old, accord: Ing'to the reading of the Alexandrian "MS: vexpoit aides, Which is the true‘one.}i ~ “5. 1h Ver. 19.‘ For :he'shall rend ‘them; awd tdst them down headlong, that they.sball be spesth- Wi dew: Cuap. V. less, cat Rather, * dash them speechless head- long.” fre ares azdrss wpuvac. Calmet observes, that the author here has expressed in three words three different punishments ; j%e implies, that God shall beat or dash them against the ground ; and the other two probably allude to a more in- famous kind of death, viz. that they shall be strangled, and suffocated, and burst asunder. And thus ayjuric is used, Acts i. 18. in the de- scription of Judas’s death. See Walls Critical Notes in loc. and Hammond. Osiander thinks aprw the true reading, rather than apse, (see his Observations on the Vulgate) but he assigns no reason, and is supported by no authority of MSS. The description of the punishment here is not unlike that supposed to be inflicted upon the Rephaim of old, to whom Enoch in his prophecy refers ; and possibly such wicked ones as resem- bled them in their proud and blasphemous speeches and notorious acts of violence and op- pression, are here meant: for can there be a properer punishment for a y:yarléa Suude (for so the son cf Sirach calls a proud and defying temper) than what is here described to be its fate; or can pride and insolence be represented under stronger circumstances of meanness and disgrace? the opposition is too beautiful in what follows not to be taken notice of; for, were they swoln with pride? the Almighty shall burst them. Disrampet illos inflatos, says the Vulgate. Did they aspire against heaven? they: shall be cast down headlong. Did they use great swell- ing words and threats of deftance ? they shall be speechless. Did they pride themselves in works of greatness, and trust in their strong holds of security ; they shall be shaken from their foun- dations and become desolate. Did they love noise and disturbance, and was their name ter- rible upon earth; they shall ‘* come no more into remembrance, but their memorial shall pe- Tish with them.” Were they such desperate and bold wretches, as to set every thing at defiance? they shall be afraid even of their own conscien- ces. Did they finally ridicule God and his Justice? they shall tremble at the apprehension of their sad punishment.. CHAP, V.. Tue Arcument.—TZo shew the great differ- 1ence, in point of happiness, between the virtu- ous and the wicked, the-latter are introduced as groaning under inexpressible misery, and lamenting before the tribunal of God their for- mer ill- courses, and the sad- consequences of them. From hence the writer takes occasion THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 65 to shew, that the vengeance of God always pursues sinners, either immediately from bim- self, or by the agency of second causes, bis ap- pointed instruments and executioners. Calmet thinks the six first chapters may be considered as a sort of preface to the rest of this work. Ver. 1. Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted bim.| At the end of the formez chap- ter, the wicked are represented as trem- bling under a sense of their guilt and the ap- prehension of punishment due to it: Here, by way of antithesis, is shewn the holy con- fidence and sweet security which wiil arise in the breast of every good man in the day of trial, from the justice of his cause, and the testi- mony and approbation of his conscience. Thus wajinste is used in many places in the New Testament; see particularly, 1 John it. 28. and iv. 17. where the righteous man is said to have boldness in the day of judgment. Ibid. And made no account in his labours.] We may understand this of such as laughed at the good man’s deeds as fruitless, or endeavoured to make them so by their opposition: but St Avstin, and others of the fathers, understand this passage of such oppressors as by violence spoiled the righteous man’s goods, which he had acquired by his honest labours. Thus St Cyprian, diripuerunt labores eorum ; Testim, lib. iii. ad Quirin. c..16. And the Vulgate ren- ders accordingly, adstulerunt labores eorum, which Coverdale and the Geneva Bible follow. Calmet explains the passage in, both these senses. [They seem to have read «peasy in- stead of adi}irlov.] Ver. 2. When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear.) The Syriac and Arabic Versions read, dim. The sense is, the wicked shall be confounded at the sight of him.whom they: have so much abused, and shall behold with amazement the sudden and wonderful turn of providence in favour of- the righteous, beyond what they expected or thought of ; and from the happiness: conferred upon the righte- ous shall conclude and anticipate. their own misery.. To give the more lively-iinpression of this the author represents them both as stand- ing together before the judginent-seat of God, and as witnesses of each other’s happiness or misery. ‘The circumstances of the surprise up- on the signal deliverance of the righteous, are. very justly here preserved ; and the consterna- tion and despair 3 wicked, from the killing 66 reflection of a too late and fruitless repentance, are no less beautifully described, with all the terror and exaggeration of expression. For it will be no small torment to the wicked, to see those, whom they most despised for their great advantages in piety hae ga very highby advanced in honour by God, and rewarded by him as his faithful servants: envy at others’ happiness, and despair of their own, will ren- der them completely miserable. This is finely represented in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Ibid. Strangeness of bis salvation.] Rather, unexpectedness. ; Ver. 3. And they, repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit, shall say within themselves, this was he whom we had sometime in derision, and a proverb of reproach.) The prosopopeeia here is very natural, and may be considered either as a soliloquy in each repenting sinner’s breast, or asa joint reflection made by them all, and a set discourse which they had one to another. The Greek will admit of either sense, but Calmet thinks the latter most agreeable to the context. It is very observable, that there are three words in this verse to express the saine thing, VIZ. yiaws, mapaBoan, évesiouoe¢, Which are designed to denote an excess of abuse and rudeness : but that in Psal. xliv. 14, 15. is still more remarkable, where David uses five syno- nymous terms upon the like occasion ; ¢6¥ simac treisog rote yerosy nuov, Mux) ngis way % xaloyéenalec role KUX- aw wor 408 nas eas aapaSoniy év Tome eOvecr, xIynOW uEDa- aie tv reig xaoi¢. The confession of these scoffers may be applied to all others of the like turn and denomination ; for it has been the unhappy fate of good men in all ages, to be thus ridiculed by libertines. It was the observation of Job long since, that “ the just upright man is laugh- ed to scorn,” ch. xii. 4. And, with respect to himself, he complains particularly, that ‘ he was made a by-word of the people; and be- fore them, (as the margin reads,) he was a ta- bret,” ch. xvii. 6. i. e. for them to make sport with ; see Mercer in loc. which is no impro- bable interpretation of the place, the LXX rendering it by yéaus. Ver. 4. We fools counted his life madness.] Religious men, and such as retire from the world for the opportunity of a great piety, are often représented by debauchees, as_melan- choly and disordered; but in the end, such libertines as abuse the world, will be found to be the only fools, and religion acknowledged to be the truest wisdom. The like reflection THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuap, V, was thrown upon such of the primitive Chrise tians as were dead to the world ; they. were looked upon as senseless, for despising the pleasures that courted them, and foolishly cre- dulous, for: trusting to invisible rewards : “ Let fools. and idiots (says Celsus. in his sneering way) come to the Christian mysteries, for such are the most agreeable disciples to the God they worship.” Origen. cont. Cels. lib. iii. Nor did our Savour himself escape the censure of having a devil, and being mad, John x. 20, So certain an attendant upon extraordinary sanctity is obloquy and reproach. There is scemingly the like reflection on him, Mark iii, 21. and even uttered by his own friends, as our translation has faultily rendered it: for as the learned now generally agree in interpreting the place, isn does not relate to our blessed Saviour, but to the clamorous multitude, whose beha- viour often gives just occasion for such a sus- picion. [The fault is not in our translation, but in the wrong acceptation of the word éatyw, which does not mean they (i. e. his friends and relations) said, but men said, it was commonly said ; the same as éafyero, which is very usual. Thus Luke vi. 36. Seesew, i. e. SoftosJas ibid, ver.44. (uaacyvorand rpvyor. In like manner, Luke xii. 20. viv uxiy ov éroarsow, which our trans. lators render, “ Thy soul shall be required of thee,” as they might here have rendered, éacyor yép, “for it was said, he is beside himself ;” and the scribes, and not barely scribes, but the Scribes who came down from Jerusalem, said, &c. So the passage is to be understood, and to be distinguished in the original. taeyor pon tbésn, % of ypaumalac of amd ‘Iepoconumor xalabasrorlic extyor, Sc. The repetition of the article «i is emphatical, and intimates that not ordinary: Scribes, but Scribes from Jerusalem, who may be a to -have more learning and skill than others, said, He hath Belzebub. Ver. 5. How is be numbered ameng the chil- dren of God, and bis lot is among the saints!) How different are the cool reflections of an un- bodied spirit, from the wild sallies of. a heated fancy ; and how do the sentiments of the same persons vary, considered in this different light ! the very same scoffers, who railed the just man upon his glorious title of A Son of God, chap, li. 18, at length confess the truth .of what..he said ; they perceive the invaluable privileges. of such a'relation in the next life, and that the true inheritance of the sons of God is among his glorified saints: ty dyfog & xaiipec avzw, sec. Dan. xii, 13. where the angel tells him, that.‘* he ‘Guar. V. ‘shall rest in a happy-condition, and stand in his lot,’ at the end of the days ;” 2. e. inthe resur- rection of the just; which the LXX render, srasios ex tov xnagoy av. The phrase alludes to the division of the land of Canaan {a type of hea- ven) among the twelve tribes by lot. Ver. 6. Aad the Sun of righteousness rose not mpon us. | (Rather, hath not risen upon us. Co- verdale’s and the other English versions read in like manner, following the Vulgate ; but all the Greek copies omit the words, of righteousness, and so likewise do several of the Fathers, when they quote this passage; see particularly St Gregory, lib. xxxiv. Moral. c. 6. St Ambr. Serm. 3, & 16. and St Cyprian in many places. The Syriac and Arabic versions Itkewise omit them. ‘They seem either to have been put in the margin by way of explanation, and to have crept from thence into the text, or else to have been added from the former sentence, for they are neither in the Alexandrian nor any other copy. Ver. 7. We wearied ourselves in the way of .wickedness and destruction.] One cannet help observing at first sight, how closcly wickedness and destruction are here linked together, and that one seems to follow naturally at the heels of the other: Nor is sin, however represented to be all pleasure, without its drudgery : the prophet Jeremiah expresses himsclf like this writer, ‘* They weary themselves to work ini- quity,” ‘chap. ix. 6. See also Habak. ii. 13. It is a pretty observation of a very learned writ- er, that the Greek word @ougiz, which signifies wickedness, comes from another that signifies labour, viz. sive. Sanderson’s Sermons, p. 596. And it is not without great elegance and particular good reason, that the iusts and prac- tices of sinners are so frequently in scripture styled works, and sinners emphatically called ** workers of iniquity,” and said ‘“ to work wickedness ;” expressions all implying the toil and drudgery of wicked courses. St Chrysos- tom is very copious on this subject, and shews, both from Scripture and reason, that the life of a wicked man has more real weariness and sla- very, than all the mortifications and severity of a godly life. And this truth the wicked here confess, though too late, ‘* ambulavimus vias difficiles,”” as the vulgate renders. And here again the subject suggests to me the same use- ful reflection, viz, That when men are about leay- ing this world, and their soul is a little more at liberty to reflect (which holds much stronger of an unbodied spirit) there will then be a strange alteration in their judgment and opi- THE BOOK OF WISDOM 67 nion concerning the'things of this world ; they will then be sensible of the extreme vanity and folly of them, and fruitlessly wish for a few hours of their irrevocable time, mis-spentin a succession of vanities. But bitter will be the remembrance of former pleasures not innocent, and so much the greater will the detestation and cursing of them be, as they have taken more delight in them. But this will appear in a stronger light from what follows. Our ver- sion follows the present reading of the Greck, eremanzinuey TpiBas, but ireTaay XOnucr seems to be more suitable, vz. ‘* We wandered up and down in the paths of wickedness and destruction.” [But treratrSnpey rei€ac, I believe is not Greek. ‘To make it so, it should be rp/€ar, as Prov. xiv. 14, rav tavle star oancSiedar. The true reading seems to me to be iracvilicucy rpiGac, ‘+ we have wandered in the paths,’ which answers well to the foregoing verse, ‘* We have erred from the ways of truth.’’] Ver. 8. What hath pride profited us, or what food have riches with our vaunting brought us 2] z..e. What good have all our proud and haughty conceits, our admiration of worldly state and riches, our pursuit of vain curiosities and un- lawful pleasures, done us, since these admired trifles are so uncertain, and all vanished into nothing.? It is obvious to observe, from this self-reflection of a wicked man, very naturally here represented, that the sensual person ina future state will condemn himself in the first place, that by pursuing with eagerness the un- certain pleasures of this world, he bas forfeited his title to more*durable and lasting delights, Qdly, ‘That he is for ever incapable cf recoy- ering his lost happiness; and the sad prospect or reflection upon that happiness, which he might have enjoyed, but lost through his own folly, will greatly increase his misery. S3dly, That the remembrance of his imprudence in this respect, will be a part of his future punish- ment; all his favourite pleasures end enjoy- ments being past and gone, they will, by a miserable exchange, be succeeded with diead- ful and tormenting reflections: Tor it will be an addition to the torments of the wicked, that they shall not be able to forget all those sins and follies which they have ever been guilty of, but must have always in their remembrance, as it were purposely to hauntand disturb them, all those once dear delights, which they would now willingly at any rate purchase the cbiivien of. Ver. 9, 10, 11, 12.] We meet with seve- ral of these similies and comparisons, with re- a 8 ~spect.to the shértness of life, and its satisfac- ‘tions; :in the Book of Job, ch.tix. 25, 26. “« My days are swifter than a post, they flee a- ‘way; they see no good: ‘* They are: passed a- way as'the swift ships, as the eagle that:hasteth to the prey.” And among the memorable say- ings of Agur, Prov. xxx. 19. ‘* The way-of an eagle in the air, and the way ofa ship in‘the midst of the sea,”’ are taken notice of as so ob- scure and uncertain, as to leave no traces be- hind them. The comparisons made use of in the course of these verses, to represent the un- ‘certainty of life and ils enjoyments, we may observe, thicken apace, as if the wicked de- scribed in this chapter, took pains, and were ‘concerned to impress upon others that lively sense of the vanity of worldly pleasures, which, by a sad experience, they had unhappily gain- ed. The images are very natural, and placed in different lights, to be more affecting ; they seem compassionately designed as notices to warn others, ‘* lest they come also into that place of torment.:”? And they are each of them particularly proper to express what they are brought.to illustrate. I shall only observe thus much of them further, That though they very naturally describe the licentiousness of the wicked, and the eagerness with which they a- bandon themselves to‘their lusts and passions, and the rapidity with which they are carried a- way by them: yet herein all the images are de- ficient, that they do not sufficiently point out the destructive consequences and mischievous ef- fects of a mis-spent life: For can a wicked life be thought as harmless .as a shadow ; or will it, like that, pass away without any further no- tice ? Is the speed of a messenger an adequate resemblance, without considering the’ con- sequence of his errand, and how he will be re- ceived at the end of his journey ? Does the foating of birds into the upper regions, and their aspiring even towards heaven, sufficientl denote the contrary course of sinners, and their certain tendency downwards? Or should a ship be described only as passing swiftly over the sea, and no notice taken of the danger of a ship- wreck? And will the great gulph finally be as easily passed over as the. waves, or come toge- ther like the dight air? The ropriety of our translation too in some of the Rnegaine similies may be alittle suspected ; for, ver. 9. aylenig @wapelpéxxoe, which in our version js rendered, “*.as a post that hasted by,” may probably with more- justice be translated, ‘asa flying - re- port,” (as a post that hasteth by.) And thus THE‘ BOOK) OF WISDOM. CHaPi, Calmet.explains it, ‘* comme une nouvelle qui. court ; comme la renommée qui-vole ;” ‘and - then he quotes: Virgil’s. Description ‘of: Fame, fEneid. iv. -And indeed dyfa‘e properly) means the. rumor itself, and not the messenger ‘thatitat. ries it. Again, ver. 11. the Aight air is satd‘ip ‘our version to ‘‘ be parted with the violent noise of the bird’s wings,”’ oxiliperor Bia pole, (thie next word expresses the motion of them) (But certainly this is inaccurate, for the noise dods not part the air, but follow from it. - Cover. dale’s, and the other ancient versions, render more justly, ‘* parting the aire thorow the:vehe. mency of her goinge : per vim itineris,””. Valk, Our translators were led into this mistakerby the double sense of foros, which signifies ‘both stridor and impetus, but the latter significatién is far preferable here: And thus the Syriac did Arabic interpreters understand it.- (The: Greek may be pointed and read thus: Ex:Céucror pre, pollo xuwpévar a lnpvya Siodeuln, Sec. ‘* impetw nod. rum alarum;”’ parted by the violent fordel6f moving wings. The last observation is‘upon the Greek text, ver. 12. & cig evOiwc eg twibiy dvexvon, where I would read with Grotius, dai. avle, which seems more proper. (It is right dvexubn. See chap. ii. 1. where avaavo is'used dn the same sense of returning, araavoue i abyss And hence the true reading, ch. xvi. 14; seeths'to be wit araaver Wuxi waparnpbera.) Ver. 13. Even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end.]i.%. Our life has been wasting ever since it was first given'us, and we are continually dying’ by degrees ; like that of the poet, ** Nascentes mo- rimur,”” which Seneca seems to explain, “ Que tidie morimur, quotidie enim demitur aliqua . pars vite :”—We die daily, for our life is daily decreasing. But that of St Austin is still closer, ** Profecto ex quo esse incipit in hoc Corpor, in morte est homo.” De Civit. Dei, lib. xiii, An expression not unlike that moving oné in our Burial Service, ‘* In the midst of life, we are in death ;”? for life is continually exposed to so many perils, that what David says‘of him: self, Psal. exix. 109. is true of ever ‘man, “« My soul is always in my hand ;? i. ecitis , always in danger to be taken from me. ‘The Hebrew word signifies, the padm of the hand, — out of which any thing will easily slip ;'and intimates, that he esteemed his life ‘always in danger, and always was ready to resign it. *< Ibid. And had'no sign’ of virtue to shew.| Co- verdale’s transtation is much better; *“‘Anu have shewed no token of virtue.”?_ “The Gréek reads \"e Cuap. V. in the present tense, ‘* We have no sign of vir- tue to shew :” i. e, We have nothing to urge in our defence, no good action to produce in our favonr. One cannot help observing from hence, how insignificant, ¢ven in his own con- fession, a wicked man is; he is born and dies, can.say no good of himsclf, nor any body else for bim. - (Ver. 10, H, 12, 13. The connection of these four verses lies thus: ‘* As a ship sailing—a bird flying, an arrow shot at a mark, leave no traces behind them ; so we, dying as soon as we are born, have no sign of virtue to shew.”’ This last clause contains the application of tie Similitudes; and the preceding, ‘ dying as soon as we were born,” (i. e. dying to all virtue, dead in trespasses and sins) ‘gives the reason why they have no marks of virtue to shew: And itis the same in sense with that of Psal. Ivili. 3. .** The ungodly are froward, even from their mother’s womb: As soon as they are born, they go astray and speak lies.” Our translation of éea‘zouer, ** began to draw to our end;” has nothing peculiar (as it ought to have) to the persons here spoken of; for all men, as soon as they are born, begin to draw to their end: And it is contrary to the use of the word ixaeev, which signifies to die, to be quite extinguished, Luke xvi. 9. te, orev ixa‘- ane, Sorlar vuss, &c. ** That when ye are dead, they may receive you (i. e. ye may be received) into the everlasting tabernacles, xxii. 32. tyd 8 Vendy wepi ov, iva pn txrciry # wisig ov ‘* But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith may not be totally extinguished :” Not, that chy faith fail not, for Peter’s faith did certainly faz/, but it was not quite extinguished ; tum, but not ®éare. Our translators have put in And at the beginning of the 10th verse, and have joined that verse to the Cth, neither of which should have been done ; for the sense is fully ended at the 9th verse, and there is nothing in the ori- ginal to countenance such connection. Ibid. But were consumed in our own wicked- ness.) [xoidararidnue, bave been laid out or ex- pended.) i. e. We spent our whole life in wic- kedness ; and as we died in our sins, we justly suffer the reward of cur evil deeds,—These and such like dreadful reflections will the wicked make in their torments. —Thus far the wicked are introduced speaking : Accordingly the Vul- gate here.inserts, “ Talia dixerunt in inferno hi qui peccaverunt.” And indeed such a solilo- quy from a great sinner, or such repenting strains from.a company of them in despair, seem very natural ; for such is the power of a THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 69 guilty conscience, that the wicked shall be self- condemned even before the “ books are open- ed;” they will anticipate their doom, and ac- knowledge the justice of their sentence, before it be passed upon them. The making the scene of this long prosopopeia, which reaches from the beginning of ver. 3. to the end of this, to be in hell, as the Vulgate does ; and the representing them, by an ingenious fiction, as really speak- ing and lamenting ¢dere, in the way they would have done if they had power, can never be enough admired iti this writer. We have a re- markable and beautiful instance of this in Luke Xvi. 24. Where an imaginary discourse is carried on between Abraham and the rich man. Ver. 15. But the righteous live for evermore.j The author having shewn the dreadful conse- quences of sin, according to the inward sense and acknowledgment of the wicked themselves, their sad prospect, and the final ruin of all their hopes ; and illustrated, by several just compari- sons, the shortness of life, especially of one spent in a continual round of sinful pleasures ; pro- ceeds, in this and the next verses, to set down, by way of contrast, the glory of the righteous, and their exceeding great reward ; that it is not only with, but zz the Lord ; for so it is in the ori- ginal; and the Syriac and Arabic translations render accordingly in Domino. It is also obser- vable, that their reward, and even their future life, is expressed in the present tense, to denote probably the certainty of their reward, and their immediate entrance upon it. Ibid. And the care of them is with the Most High.| The true and common acceptation of these words is, that God careth for the righ- teous, will defend them with his favourable kindness as with a shield, and will provide for them a reward, great even beyond imagination or expression. Stella understands this passage in a different sense, “ That the chief care of the righteous is about the Most High; and his whole study and endeavour to please the Lord in all instances of duty.” “ Tota solicitudo et diligentia justorum circa id versatur, ut Deo placeant, illi enim vere justi dici possunt, qui Deo curant placere.” Stell. Enarrat, cap. i. Lu- ce.” This sense would indeed have been very proper, if the original reading was, » Pporig aurday awesi vfise, as he seems to have uuderstood it; but the true reading in all the editions is, + pper- Jig avraov. wage wfisw, * Cura eorum penes, altissi- mum,” as the Arabic renders. That of the Sy- niac, ‘‘ Cogitatio illorum in altissimo,” may seem to favour either sense. yr [Ver. 14. Like as the smoke which is dispersed "70 bere aad there with a tempest. The Greek li- terally is, ad is dispersed like suoke by the wind. | (Ver. 15. And the care of them is with the Most High.] In Bos’s edition of the LXX, he observes, that Ald, has wepi vfise.] Ver. 16. Therefore shall they receive a glo- rious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lsra’s hand] [ri Basirecr, Palace, see on i. 14.] The Arabic reads, “ Diadema pulchritu- dinis;” and the Syriac version more explicitly, ** Diadema bonorum operum.” The Greek, 73 Businetcy Tig evmrpemretnc, % 70 Soe neat re xernase’ Which manner of expression by the substantive is very beautiful. Instances of it are frequent in Scrip- ture and profane authors: Thus, chap. i. ro. we have & Cnasewe, for the jealous ear ; and oni- ux Suvduews, a mighty wind, chap. v.23. And in Like xviii. 6. the unjust judge is, 6 xprrig rig adi x46 ; and the Sorgetful hearer, axpoalig EmIANT LOVIG, James i. 25. See more instances, John xvii. 12. James v. 15. 2 Thess. ii. 8. This must be al- Jowed tobe a fine description of future happi- ness, and, considering the times of this writer, very clear and distinct. The New Testament, indeed, speaks of the righteous in heaven un- der the idea and character of mighty kings and princes ; and no wonder if there are better and clearer promises. therein; but in the Old Testament, at least under the particular ceco- nomy of Moses, we mect with no such explicit discovery of the happy and glorious state after death. Ibid. For with his right band shall he cover thent.} As by the organs of sense attributed to God, the knowledge of God is set forth; so by the organs or instruments of action is his power decyphered, and most eminently by the hand: So that the hand of God, in scripture, means ordinarily the power of God; but the right. hand being more active than the left, and the More usual instrument in outward works, hence it is taken to intimate the exceeding abundance of the power of God. The sense of this passage is much the same with that of the Psalmist: The righteous shall dwell under the defence of the Most High, and shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty : He will defend them under his wings, and they shall be safe under his feathers ; his faithfulness and truth shall be their shield and buckler ;” Psal. xci. Ver. 17. He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armour.) J have before observed, that sin, in scripture, is often compared to spiritual adultery ; see note on ch.i. 40. So that the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Chap. V: sense is, * That his jealousy,” i. e. his enraged justice, “ will furnish him with complete arm. our.” The Syriac version expresses this very fully, “ In gratiam ipsorum in zelo suo armabit omnia.”? The following descriptions, to the end of the chapter, are full of the sublimest ‘image- ry ; God is drawn in all that terrible glory with which the strongest imagination can paint him; his whole figure strikes us in the highest and most amazing manner: He is represented, as completely armed with terror; we see his helm- et, his breast-plate, his invincible shield, his sharp sword, his thunderbolts, and, in fine, ‘his whole artillery of heaven. He is more dreadful than Mars moving to battle, while he com. mands the creation ‘round him (for so I-would render ziy xJiow in the following sentence) to execute his decreed vengeance upon his ene- mies, and to determine the fate of guilty na- tions. In Moses’s song, the Lord, or Jehovah, is represented, in like manner, as a fierce “ man’ of war,” Exod. xv. 3. Nor is the description of the Psalmist less to be admired, where he says of God, “ If a man will not turn, he will whet his sword ; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready ; he hath prepared for him the instru- ments of death, he ordaincth his arrows against the persecutors,” Psal. vii. 12, 13. Ver. 18. He shall put on righteousness as a breast-plate.] (i Svodas Sopaxa Srxasoodrn So Ephes. vi. 14. tvSuootuevos Toy Sopane rig Sixcrosuyns” As es is omitted, the author might as well have wrote Sxasswns. See the notes upon Lysias, Ed. Lond. p. §79. But in Isaiah lix. 19. from whence probably this, as well as that of St Paul, is bor- _ rowed, w¢ is expressed, See ver. 19. of this. chapter, and vii. 9. daupes sacyn, where oc is like- wise omitted ; and note on ver. 22.] The breast- plate is known to cover the heart, which is the source of all the passions ; hence this writer says, that God will arm himself with justice as with a breast-plate, to intimate, that he will do nothing out of mere passion, or by an absolute uncontrouled power, without regard to the rules of equity ; but that he will conduct all his pio- ceedings and determinations, even against his — enemies, according to the eternal rules of jus- tice: and therefore it follows very properly in the next sentence, “ that he will put on true judgment instead of an helmet ;” i. e. as a wise judge, whose infinite wisdom searches into the secrets of every crime and action, and who can- not be mistaken or imposed upon, he will give true and impartial judgment; and as a just judge, he will observe a strict proportion be- Cuap. V, tween the crimes and the punishment. With sreat propriety therefore is true judgment here described as the ornament of his head. This can only be exceeded by that sublime descrip- tion in the inspired writer upon the like occa- sion, ‘ He put on righteousness as a breast-plate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head ; and put on the garments of vengeance for a cloath- ing, and was clad with zeal as witha cloak ;” Isa. lix. 17. How much more amiable is the description of this writer, representing the Al- mighty, cloathed with the breast-plate of right- cousness, than that of Jupiter in Homer, whose /Egis grinned terribly with the figures of hor- ror, affright, and discord ? Ibid. Instead of a helmet.] Kai wepiMioijas xbpuba upiow avvmexgiloy. The learned editor of Philo Judzeus applies the epithet to xopuf, rather than xp/ow, and conjectures the true reading of this place to be, arepOnod)axt xopubla xpiow anabxi peor, “ Accipiet pro galea inexpugnabili judicium ;” which he justifies by two parallel passages in Philo, where the same sentiment occurs, dvrasuy axabalsclov 7 Sixasoy nyxyevos ; and in another place, cxataipire xpoucror Te Sxaly (Yumaxiz. Phil. de Mose. Ver. 19. He shall take holiness for an invin- cible shield.] St Bernard observes upon this passage, that at the time when this true judg- ment is passed, God’s equity, as the margin rightly renders, will be so absolutely inflexible, that he will not suffer himself to be overcome by any arguments of pity that can be offered ; nor can he possibly relent by any weakness or tenderness of nature. As the wicked have so long abused the riches of his goodness and long suffering, his dignity calls upon him to do jus- tice to his injured honour. And since this judgment, or proceedure, is founded upon the most perfect equity, it will in all respects be so irreproachable, that even the wicked themselves shall be convinced of the justness of their sen- tence; and while they experience the greatness of his power, shall acknowledge the justice of all his determinations, and that his equity is no less infinite. {Ibid. And true judgment. xpisw avwrixgilor. So XVill., 16. aruroneilor tmirayin’ npraiy arumésafoy (see Maccab. lib. iil. x. 13.) would have been near- er than axaa/pejor. had there been any need of a change. ] “Ver. 20. His severe wrath shall he sharpen Sor a sword.) This is capable of two senses, cither that he shall sharpen the sword of his fierce wrath, as the Syriac version understands it, * Mirum in modum exacuet lanceam irc THE BOCS OF WISDOM. 71 suz ;” [which seenis to have read lore instead of ezézoucr] or that he shall sharpen his wra;h into a destructive sword, a¢ améroucy fouparey as the Arabic renders, ‘“* Iram suam expoliet in gladium acutum.” And thus God punished the transgression of our first parents, he sharpened tiv Suudv ris épyic, Numb. xiv. 34. into a flaming sword, to guard the avenue of Paradise against them ; “ to keep the delinquents, says St Chry- sostom in loc. Hom. 18. in continual remem- brance of what had passed, and to strike frequent terror into them, by so menacing an object.” The description in this and the following ver- ses is agreeable to the language of scripture ; for when God is mentioned as angry with the wicked, he is represented as standing continu- ally with his bow bent, with his arrow upon the string, as ready to let fly; and with his sword, not only drawn, but whetted, as if he was just about to strike; Psal. vii. 13. Ibid. And the world shall fight with him a- gainst the unwise.] This is the same in effect with that sentence in the 17th verse, ‘“ He shall make the creature,” 7. e. the creation, “ his wea- pon for the revenge of his enemies.” Not that Almighty God has any need of all, or any of his creatures, to assist him in executing his ven- geance, but he sometimes chuses to make use of them, as instruments of his wrath, to con- vince the unwise, 7. e. the wicked, of their folly, in their immoderate, or unlawful pursuit of them ; and therefore his wisdom purposely punishes them by such creatures as they have abused, and makes the objects of their pleasures become the instruments of their punishment; Qw in cunctis deliquimus, says St Gregory, in cunctis fe- rimur ; Homil. 35. in Evang. It is an obser- vation of the book of Job, that all the works of nature are prepared by God to be his instru- ments, either for judgment or for mercy; thus chap. XXxvii. 12, 13. it is said of the clouds in particular, that “ they are made to do whatso- ever he commandeth them upon the face of the whole earth, either for correction or for plenty.” And of the treasures of snow and hail, the same writer observes, that they “ are reserved by God against the time of trouble, against the day of war and battle ;” ch. xxxvili. 23. In the song of Deborah it is said, “ That the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.” And indeed God can make all the elements in their turns. to conspire against the wicked ; he can discom- fit them with thunderbolts and tempests, ver. 21.. as Livy says it happened to the Romans in the great battle at Cannz ; or command the air to 72 be his destroying angel: He can make the wa- ters to rage and swell horribly, ver. 22. and to destroy them by another deluge; he can make the fire to fulfil all the purposes of his provi- dence, and his “ flame shall burn up the ungod- ly :” Or, he can command the earth “ to open her mouth, and death shall come hastily upon them.” Ver. 21. Then shall the right-aiming thunder- balts go abroad.) Bonds asparav, the arrows of the lightnings ; and so the Syriac version has it, Facula lancearum ignearum ac fulgurum. The meaning is, that the Lord shall shew his wrath and indignation against the wicked by terrible thunder from heaven, like that in the days of Samuel, 1 Sam. vii. 10. when “ the Lord thun- dered with a great thunder upon the Philistines, and discomfited them: And that these his in- struments of destruction shall be so infallibly di- rected, as to’ execute his designed vengeance With an unerring certainty. An ingenious writ- er observes, “ That compound epithets heighten the diction ; and that even one of these is itself a short description.” Pope’s preface to Homet’s Iliad. We see the justness of this observation in tsoxor, or right-aiming ; for can any thing convey a finer or more lively idea, than thun- derbolts animated as it were with sense, and dis- charging themselves with judgment and discre- tion? We see the uplifted hand of vengeance, and the bolt not only grasped and levelled ru- bente dextera, but executing its fated commis- sion with as much certainty, as if each particular stroke had its charge assigned it. Aristotle just- ly commends Homer, for having found out /iy- ing words, “‘ His hero’s arrow is impatient to be on the wing, and his weapon thirsts to drink the blood of the enemy.” Sépu na/ezar. Here the Almighty’s thunder is winged with death, and his unerring wisdom guides it to the mark ; Je- hovah but sends out his arrows, and they know where to go, and what to do—In short, to use the words of another polite writer upcn a like occasion, the description here and in the con- text, “is a noble picture, in which the gusts of hail, and flashes of fire, burst out from the clouds with as much spirit and force as in a real tempest.” . Ibid. And from the clouds, as Jrom a well- drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark.) ‘Q¢ ami tuxdxaw roku ray vepor, i.e. As from the well-arched or well-bent bow of the clouds. Not any well- drawn bow is here alluded to, but that parti- cular bow, the 73 rogor ty 7h vpéan, Which was at Jirst set in the cloud, Gen. ix, 14. And thus the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuape. V. Vulgate renders, “ A bene curyato arcunubium.” To which agree the Syriac and Arabic, and most ancient English translations; but Coverdale’s is more explicit than the rest, “ ‘Then shall the thunderboltes come out of the rayne bowe of the cloudes to the place apoynted 5” 7. e. to execute God's will, and to fulfil their own commission, as is explained above. There is an expression in the Psalmist, with respect to God’s venge-. ance, which, if rightly understood, is mich to this purpose ; “* He (God) made a way to his indignation,” Ps. Ixxviii. 51. clowoince repli xy épyn ave, LXX, i.e. He directed his anger where, or to what quarter, it should fall: It does not mean in general only, that God was angry, but that he had appointed a certain tract, or path, for his vengeance, which it must follow and pur. sue; the Latin version therefore expresses this with great judgment, “ Libravit semitam ire sue ;” see 2 Esdr. xvi. 13. Isaiah describes the surprizing massacre of the Assyrian army by the just vengeance of God in the like figurative way, and with a sublimity suitable to his grandeur, which the Vulgate thus expresses; “* Auditam faciet Dominus gloriam vocis sux, & terrorem’ brachii sui ostendit in comminatione furoris, & flamma ignis devorantis ; allidet in turbine & in lapide grandinis. A voce Domini pavebit Assur, virga percussus ;”” which the LXX ex- presses more properly, ™m aanyn a ay malaty (xuips0¢) avrvc, Isa. Xxx. 30, 31. See also Psal. xvili. 13, 14. In the Pagan theology the vengeance of the gods is expressed in the like manner: Thus Homer describes the wrath of Apollo, according to Mr Pope’s excellent translation : : Bent was his bow, the Grecian hearts to wound ; Fierce as he mov'd, his silver shafts resound. Breathing revenge, a sudden night he Spread, And gloomy darkness roll'd around his head. The flect in view, he twang’d his deadly bow, And hissing fly the feather'd fates below. . Book i. v. 63. Virgil has expressed the same sentiment: Arcum intendebat Apollo ‘ Desuper. Omnis co terrore ZEgyptus to Indi, - Omnis Arabs, omnes vertebant terga Sabai. ned. viii. v. 704, I shall only observe further, that the compa-. rison of lightning to arrows, as applied by .this | writer, is not unusual in some of the Greek’ poets : i , -, Krrednoonide Beoilar, 5 wuerdamer BEAOS "Ogewlums Aus— - Pind. Pyth, Od. x Opiar..V, ‘. "am baby ard Znds myguavy, BEAOX Sp ciowsanes _ Kdlepodreg asgayris— Zéschin. Prom. 353. Vern 22. And hait-stones full of wrath shall be cast (as) out of a stone bow.| fiailstones, the artillery of ‘heaven, shall likewise come down upon the heads of his enemies, us in the days of Joshua, when ‘God sent hailstones and light- ning from heaven in the face of the enemies of his chosen people, Joshua, x. 11. which shall come with such fury and vehemence, as if they were discharged by the force of some machine, which our version calls a stone-bow, and among the Romans had the name of daliste. The Vul- gate renders here, “ Et a petrosa ira plenz mit- tentur grandines 3” which is followed by Co- verdale’s and Pagnine’s interlineary version, and is indeed a close translation of the Greek, as it is-pointed in all the editions: But if I might offer a conjecture, I think, by the help of a comma only, the sense might be rendered ‘more complete, in this manner, 4 é algcGcaw, Supe Grnper pepirovjan yonalar, &x atleoCcay, SC. épyars, or reée, from the preceding verse. I am aware of an objection which might be urged, that the particle a, or some such-like note of compari- son, is here omitted ; but besides that «; may, without any force, be fetched from the fore- going verse, instances of this ellipsis are very frequent in scripture and profane writers. See Gen. xvi. 12. Psal. xi. 1.—xii. 6.—xlv. 2. Gen. xlix. g. Cant.i.15. In all which places this particle is omitted in the Hebrew, and supplied in the versions. Our translators, it is plain, un- derstood the words in the sense which I have given them, and have inserted as, though this particle be not in the original. In the prophe- tical writings, this metaphor of hailstones is fre- quently used to denote an enemy’s falling on a country : See Isai, xxviii. 2. and xxx. 30. It conveys a grand and terribly magnificent idea, and is but imperfectly compared with the vol- lies from the artillery of walls closely besieged. Ibid. And the water of the sea shall rage a- gainst them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them.] i.e. God shall take such vengeance of wicked nations, that their enemies shall come pouring upon them like a flood. Rains, show- ers, storms, floods, and seas, are all symbols of multitudes of men in motion and disorder ; or else of armies ravaging and destroying coun- tries. Hence Servius has observed, that the sea in astorm, and people in confusion, are re- cipocally compared to each other : “ Virgilius tempestati populii motum comparat, ‘Tullius populo tempestatem.” Servius in Aéneid. hb. THE. BOOK OF WISDOM. eer 42 i. - In the inspired writings muititudes are'fré. quently compared to waters, and the invasion ofan army to the inundation cf the sea, or a rae pid river, which carries all before it. It is fa- miliar with David particularly, to represent a vast hostile ferce under the idea of a flocd of watezs, a noble instance of which is to be found in Psal. x!vi. See also Isai. viii. 7. and xvii. 12. Dan, ix. 26. and x1. 22. [But may not all these denunciations be understood in the literal or natural, not metaphorical signification of the words, because of what went before, ver. 20. “ The world shall fight for him against the wic- ked ;” i. e. the whole creation shall tight. &c. And then he immediately instances in thander- bolts, hailstcnes, the sea, rivers, and winds. This (ver. 17.) is expressed by, “ Ie shall make ike creature (or creation) his weapon for the re- venge of his enemies.” [Instead of o¢raxc— avoréuwc, 1 fancy the author wrote ofrope— areroue. | Ver. 23. A mighty wind shall stond up against them.] Wars and commotions are likewise meta- phorically denoted by winds ; so here, by a most powerful wind blowing, @revpo boxuene, is signi- fied the storm of war, and the calamity attend- ‘ing it, which shall be brought upon the wicked. The description of the fate of the wicked man, Job xxvii. 20, 21. is so close and parallel to this, that I-shall set it down at large: “ Terrors take hold of him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night, the east wind ‘carrieth him away, and he departeth, and, as a storm, hurleth him out of his place.”” ‘The east wind, which is mentioned particularly in this passage, being a very blasting wind, is most frequently used in scripture, and especially in the prophe- tical writings, to denote the calamities of war, and such-like wasting judgments. The prophet Jeremiah often applies this metaphor to those enemies and destroyers whom God makes use of as his instruments of vengeance: See ch. iv. ir. xlix. 36. li. xr. And in Ezekiel, the de- struction of Jerusalem by the Chaldean army is foretold under the figures of stormy winds, and overflowing showers, ch. xiii. 11, 13. By these, and such-like figurative expressions, God’s se-' vere judgments upon the wicked are usually de- noted in Scripture. But it is not improbable that the writer of this book had in mind, -and herein alluded to “a particular wicked na-- tion,” punished in this extraordinary manner, viz. the Egyptians, to whom most of these in- stances of vengeance happened; for ‘ God smole their cattle with hailstones, and their kK. 74 flocks with thunderbolts,” Psal. Ixxviii. 49. By the east wind also he plagued them with the locusts, which laid waste their whole land ; and the waters of the Red Sea at last cruelly drown- ed them. Calmet understands by wrwya Surducws, not 2 “ mighty wind,” as our version has it, but ‘< un vent envoyé par la puissance de Dieu.” And the sense of a mighty wind may seem per- haps not so proper here, as it is compared im- mediately to aaa}, or a whirlwind. If we should understand this expression of the spirit of power, or the powerful breath, or spirit of the Almighty, the vengeful breath of God, ex- pressed significantly, and displayed terribly, by the desolation of a whirlwind, furnishes as grand an idea as our imaginations are perhaps capable of. This seems confirmed by ch. xi. 21. where there is the like expression. Ibid. And like a storm shall blow them away). The translators do not seem here fully to have expressed the sense of the Greek word txampiod 5 it ig a technical term, and means, that God will make use of his fan, “ and thoroughly purge his floor,’ when the wicked, in the language of the Psalmist, ‘‘ shall be like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth,”’ Psal: i. 5. With what dreadful pomp is the wrath of God here displayed! How mag- nificently and nobly hath the writer of this book drawn the artillery of heaven, the rapidity of its motion, the terror of its appearance, the desolation occasioned by it, and the certain death attending it! What an assemblage of ter- rible.ideas in a small compass? The earth, the sea, the rivers, the clouds, the winds, the hea- vens, like so many auxiliary forces, are all list- ed, and conspire against the wicked. Whata lively idea of God’s infinite power over all his creatures does this description convey ! This lat- ter part of the chapter must certainly be allowed to be a great instance of the hypotyposis, a figure well known to orators and poets. : Abid. Lhus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth.} By. this expression we may understand all the-earth strictly, ¢erram \universam, as.the Arabic renders ; and thus the:old-world, with its: inhabitants, was destroyed by water for . their ‘iniquity; and St Peter seems to inti-. mate, that ‘ the present earth, and:all the works that are therein, shall at length be burtit aap” for the saine reason; 2 Pet. iii. 7, 10.-on-we may-understand this sentence, or judgments ‘that shall ‘befal aay-particular land or country. “And thus the Syriac version expounds it, Vastabitque totam terram impiorum:;? and THE BOOK: OF ‘WISDOM. Cuarv: Vi; Coverdale’s translation takes it in the same sense, ** Thus the unryteous dealynge of them shall bringall.the land to a wylderness;” accords ing to that observation of the Psalmist, “ A fruitful land maketh he barren, for the wicked; ness of those that dwell therein ;”’ Psal. evil, 34. [But the literal translation is, ‘ and in- iquity shall lay waste the whole land ;” and it is very probable that this is meant of Egypt in particular, and the clause that follows of Pharaoh. Ibid. And ill-dealing shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.) The truth of this observation cannot be better exemplified than in the fate of Nebuchadnezzar and Sennacherib ; the latter prided himself in being called the great king, the king by way of excellence, and considered himself as the Lord of the earth, and the van- quisher of men and gods: this prince, so proud and haughty, God seems to despise as below an ordinary man ; he treats him as a wild beast, puts his hook in his nose, and a bridle in his mouth, and turns him back with disgrace and and infamy, by the same way that he came triumphant and glorious. See Rollin on the Belles Lettres, vol. III. p. 167. [‘Hxaxompayia, the ill-dealing: Which looks as if the author designed the construction to be, -# xaxorpayiz Suvasey wepsrpérper Sporee Suvasar, or avfoy, “ the ill-dealings of princes shall overthrow their thrones.””] ; nar ei” SS a Tue Arcument.—Having established the pre- Serence of wisdom or religion above vice and wickedness, the author presses upon princes and ~ rulers, whom he addressed in the first chaptet, the study and observance of it, as the means ruling well; that through a conceit and imagin- ed privilege of their high station, they should at- tempt nothing injurious; because God, careth for all alike, being the common father of smatt dd great, and will punish them propor'tionably to the great trust which they abise.' ‘He concludes with an elogium of wisilom;' th oneral sétto mankind, and the means of bid, mpeg U9dE Pot npr ratte + ast Fb oR Ans sdPar gacails \ Veriol. Hear, therefayeyQs ydohings sin Coverdale’s translation this chapter begins, “ Wyisdom is better; than.strength,, and.a-man ‘of :unilerstandyng:is more .werth-than,one.that is strong ¢/?’ which he:copied undoubtedly from the Vulgate, which is:single in inserting this versej and renders;:++: Mehor est sapientia quam “vires; 80 ¥it prudens:quam fortis:n} butiitds mot Cuap: VI. to’be found in: the.Greek, nor in the Syriac or Arabic translations: It.scems taken either fiom Prov. xvi. 32. or from Eccl. ix. 16. but more probably from the latter. However that be, or however true and useful the reflection may be, yet it is certainly quite out of place here; the connection between the beginning of this chapter and the conclusion of: the last, is really better without it; for if ill-dealing, or wickedness, shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty, ch. v. 23. the advice here given to kings, to attend to good instruction, and to conduct themselves with religion and justice, is very scasonable and natural. From the great liberty here taken in giving advice and direction to persons in such high authority, some have wferred, that a king is the writer of this book; for who so proper to take this free- dom with kings, as one of their own great rank, or who so able as the wise Solomon ? But what foundation there is for this pretence, see in note on ch. ix. 7. of this book. Ver: 3. For power is given you of the Lord.} [Probably the original should be pointed thus : tralicacsde ob xpalurles—iOvor, ors 68, &c. So that ér: may depend upon irJicaeSe, and be translat- ed that, and se “ Perceive, or learn with our ears—that power was given you,” &c. Bee Psal. xlvili. 12, 13. and Actsi. 4, 5. where there are the same mistakes in the pointing and version.] By me kingsreign, says God, Prov. viii. 15. And to the same high original does this writer ascribe their power. Irenzus very preperly remarks, “ That the devil never more ‘truly proved himself to be the father of lies, than, when he said to our Saviour concerning the kingdoms of the world, all this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered, unto me, and to whomsoever [ will, I give it.” The hint here given to princes concerning the original of their power is very -properly. inserted, lest, being exalted so high, they should be ignorant or forgetful of him from whom they received their authority ; “ for they are accountable to God for the abuse. of their power, as weN as subjects are for disobe- dience to it ; because it was committed to them, not for. their own-pleasure or advantage, to gratify their pride, or to-enable them to do ‘acts: of tyranny and. oppression; bat. for the good of those. who are under their charge.” See! Homily of Obedience to. Magistrates. - Cy- oss jas: not only..given in his own, persona “perfect/modet of: the manner in which princes should: govern their: nations, and the real use “THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 75 they ought-to make of absolute power ; but he lays down excellent rules for the conduct of other princes: ‘Eyd per oipar bev riv apyorla ror aproutvar Siapépew, ¥ 7 morviertsepov, x. 7.a. “ That a-king ought not to be distinguished from his subjects by the. splendor of riches,-the pomp of equipage, or luxury of dict only, but by a superiority of merit of every kind, by an inde- fatigable application to make his people hap- py—that the very glory of their character, and the true use of their eminence and greatness, is being devoted to, and studious of the pub- lic good.” Cyrop. lib. i. Tully has the same opinion of government ; “ Mihi quidem viden- tur huc omnia esse referenda ab iis qui priesunt aliis, ut ii, qui eorum in imperio ernnt, sint quam beatissimi:” Cic. epist. 1. lib. i. ad Quint. Fratr. This has been assigned by cri- ticsas the reason why Homer calls his kings by such epithets as Soyer, born of the gods ;-or Sleepers, bred by the gods, viz. to point outso themselves the offices they were ordained for ; and to their people, the reverence .that should be paid them: expressions correspondent to those places of holy Scripture where princes are called gods, and the sons of the most high: Annot. on book 3. ver. 229. And the like reasoning will hold in proportion with respect to judges, magistrates, ministers of state, gene- rals of armies, governors of provinces, and ecelesiastical superiors, and all other-persons in authority. mn Ver. 4. Because; being ministers of his king- dom, you have not judged aright, nor kept'-the law.} Both the Vulgate and St Austin.read, “ Nec custodistis legem justitia.” The mean- ing is, that being appointed by God, who‘ is your Sovereign in a much higher degree, as his ministers and vicegerents, you have actedas if. you were absolute and uncontreoulable, and ac- countable to none for. your proceedings; ye have made your own wills and passions the rule of your conduct, and have forgot that for this cause. God raised you up to such an eminence above the rest of his creatures, that you might. resemble him in: goodness, and impartially. dis- tribute justice. Tully’s reproof of Verres upon this occasion is very remarkable and fine, “ Nun- quam tibi venit'in mentem, non tibi idcirco fas- ces, & secures, & tantam-imperii: vim, tantam- que ornamentorum omnium dignitatem datam, ut earum rerum vi & auctoritate. omnia repagu- la juris, pudoris; & officii-perfringeres, & omni- ‘um bona:predam tuam duceres?” Oxat. 5. But nothing can exceed that.charge of King Jeho- 2 ra shaphat to the judges which he set over the land, and it ought to be considered as the urim and thummimofevery public magistrate ;“* Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judg- ment; wherefore let the fear of the Lord be upon you, and take heed unto it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts :” 2 Chron. xix. 6. _ Ver. 5. Horribly and speedily shal! be come upon you; for a sharp judgment shail be to them that be in high places.) Not that this sharp judgment shall come.upon the mighty, and such as are in high places, merely for being mighty ; the expression in this sense is too lax and rigor- ous, for there is no offence in the office, as such, nor would God raise any of his creatures to such an honour and dignity as to be his vicegerents, and even to be called gods, Psal. Ixxxii. 6. in resemblance of him, if the office and elevated state itself was faulty or punishable: the mean- ing is, that, if kings and rulers pervert the order and original design of their institution, and act contrary to the established rules of justice, they will then not only be answerable for this abuse of power to him that entrusted them with it, but be punished ina greater degree, in proportion to their superior station, and the weighty talents committed to them. Ver. 6. For mercy will soon pardon the meanest.] 1. e. God will sooner or more easily pardon a small fault or breach of duty in a private person, from whom so great a pertec- tion is neither expected nor required, as having wanted perhaps opportunities of knowing his duty, and being deprived of the means of in- struction; such a person’s transgression, being to himself, proceeding rather from ignorance than malice, and not attended with a train of bad consequences to others, will be less regard- ed; but the sins of kings and. rulers are, as St Austin styles them, contagious and mortal, their bad example has the most powerful in- fluence, it is fatal through their eminence and authority, and they ruin as many as are led away by it. Hence God commanded Moses to apprehend all the princes of the people, and the rulers of thousands and of hundreds, and other principal persons in their tribes, who had been guilty of foul idolatry, and to hang them up before the Lord, i. e. before the sanctuary, as men who had forsaken the worship of their Ged. And this was to be done openly, or against the sun, that all the people might see, THE. BOOK OF: WISDOM. Caar. VL and fear, when they saw persons of their diss tinction and authority made public examples of God’s displeasure, Namb. xxv. 4. This is the sense of the LXX, who read ‘wapaderyparer’ air. Lhe Vulgate and Symmachus under stand tt in like manner, and Selden, De Synedr, lib. it. ** Nor can we better, says Calmet, ae, count for God’s severity to David, for an act of sceming curiosity only in numbering ,the people, 2 Sam. xxiv. and his threats to. Heze kiah, 2 Kings xx- for a piece of secret vanityin shewing his treasures, than by considering them as public persons, who should rather have regarded God’s. glory than their own,” See Comment. Literal. in loc. . leony Ibid. Bué mighty men shall be mightily. tor mented. | Suveros 8% duralag tracShrortar. As izeha. sigs. nifies tormenting by way of exanrination, it might rot be amiss to translate, ** nen of great power shall be powerfully, or strictly, examin ed;” as is further threatened by iexupa épya,, ver. 8. One cannot but observe many instances in. this author of playing with the soundjor’ si. militude of words; see.ch. v.. 22: xiv... 29} Private persons seldom dare take the liberty’ to. represent to-kings, and persons in great.autho- rity, the wickedness or injustice of their pros ceedings, much less. to remind them of the danger of such steps ;.this writer therefore very artfully, as St Bernard observes, assumes-the borrowed character of Solomon, ‘to give. the greater weight to his reflections ; asa king, sw. perior to all others of the same rank. in expe- rience and wisdom, he assures them with. the- greater confidence, that however they may. flatter themselves from their high station, that they are out of the reach. of danger, and have nothing to fear; their great. eminence oughit: rather to possess them with contrary appreher. sions ; nothing being more difficult than torfill; a high post with sufficiency. and credit, norany. thing so easy as to abuse it and miscarry. \Phats God, though he has established them his. vice gerents, has not made them. independent: of. himself; he considers them stillas his creatuses,. and.from the nature of their. trust,.accountahie in a greater degree. That if at-any time :they. abuse their authority by:.noterious sacts.of: vior- lence and oppression; theyomust. expect: that: God will-display his;own power by punishing them very remarkably, and make them.a¢: ter:, rible instances of his.vergeance, as many others. of their. high ran k, whose sp fierings:are record: ed both in sacred and profane history; >. This is finely illustrated in ‘Isa; xiv. 9 where/dllcthe Cnap. VI. ghosts of deceased tyrants, condemned to the infernal mansions, are represented as tising trom their thrones, called so by way of irony, and coming to meet the king of Babylon, and congratulating his arrival among them. Ver. 8. of this chapter our author again adds, “ A sore trial shall come upon the mighty ;” which is the very same sentiment, but is not here to be asa tautology, but as a repeated Warning. It is observable, that all the ancient versions express this sore trial in stronger terms than our translation ; the Vulgate reads, “ Fortiori- bus instat fortior cruciatus,” which all the old Enelish versions follow; but the Arabic ex- presses it more terribly by the superlative, “ po- testate praedités rigidissimuin obruet examen, ad vos enim spectant sermones mei, O rebelles yefractarii,” And this sore trial or punishment will be more disagreeable anc unsupportable to princes, even upon account of their former de- licate way of living, and their former absolute sway over others, because disgrace, adversity, and suffering, are far more painful and vexati- cus to those that have been in high stations, and lived at ease, than to those of an inferior rank, who have been inured to hardships ; hence we may imagine Lucifer, the chieftain of the devils, as Mr Mede calls him, to be more deeply affected with his sore. punishment: than any of the rest of bis inferior accomplices. Ver. 7. For he, which is Lord over.all, shall fear no man’s person,. neither shall he stand in awe of any man’s greatness, for he hath made the small and the great, and careth for. all alike.) There is a passage in. Job xxxiv. 19, 24, 27. which very much resembles the first part of this verse, and probably this was taken from it; “ God accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor, for they are all the works of his hands ; he shall break in pieces mighty men without number, because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways.” And the sense of the latter part is agreeable to that of the Psalmist, ‘The Lord is loving unto every man, and his mercy is over all his works,” Psal. cxlv. 9. As common Father of all, he is desirous that all should be saved, and not wil- ling “© Magna dii curant, parva negligunt,” was an unbecoming notion of God, and worthy only of an heathen: Cic.de Nat. Deor. How much better is that most excellent sentiment of St Austin, “Tu sic curas unumquemque nostrdm tanquam solum cures, & sic omnes tanquam THE BOOK OF WISDOM. that even the meanest should perish. . sg singulos ;’— God takes as much care of every particular person, as if each were all; and as much care of all, as if all were but one.” Se Cyprian has a sentiment upon this occasion no less beautiful; Deus se omnibus ad ccelestis gratize consecutionem aqualitate libraté prie- bet parem.” “ A true knowledge of’ provi- dence, as it is an attribute of God, is most ne- cessary, and of the greatest importance, as it in- fluences all events both public and private, and every man ought to have it in his view in eve- ry circumstance of life, and every action of the day : It makes us more thoroughly sensible of our entire dependence upon God, of our weak- ness and wants, and presents us with opportu- nities of exerting the greatest virtues, such as confidence in God, a grateful acknowledgment of his mercies, humility, resignation, and pa-- tience ; and is the very basis of religion, and of all those holy exercises of prayers, vows, thanks- givings,. sacrifices, &c.” Rollin on Sacred History, Vol. Wd. p. 130. Ver. 10. For they that keep- holiness holily, shall be gudged holy.) [purckaris, have kept.] Cal- met applies this sentence to dignified ecclesias- tical persons, to such as composed the Jewish Sanhedrim, and were the judges of their nation 3. “Le Sage parloit aux Juges de sa nation, qui etojent pour l’ordinaire de l’Ordre des Prétres.” St Bernard and St Austin de Pastor. Cur. c. 4. both apply what is said of rulers here and in the context to the Christian clergy, whose duty likewise rises in proportion to the high dignity of their office. Moses, who had the care of God’s chosen people, was considered by hirn as their law-giver and chiefruler ; and accord- ingly we find, that even a sinall transgression of his, (ifany can be called so that is committed against God) was the reason, in the judgment of many learned men, of his not being permit- ted to enter into the Land of Promise. And the like may be said of the severity which befel the disobedient prophet, 1 Kings xiii. 21. But I think it more agreeable to the context, to un- derstand this of good kings, who are full of zeal for the glory of God, the establishment of re- ligion, and the security of its rights ; such as are lr Scripture, said to be after God’s cwau heart, who consider themselves as his ministers, and whose authority is employed to make their subjects happy, by making them better. It is a reflection very commonly to be met with up- on the kings mentioned in the Old Testament, that ** they did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that their fathers had done ;’ 78 but yet there are some particular exceptions, some instances of illustrious goodness recorded there, which ought in justice to be remember- ed, and must with pleasure be related, for the credit of their high calling: Let any one but carefully reflect upon the sentiments of piety which David expressed in the translation of the ark; and his magnificent and almost immense preparations for the building of thetemple : Jc- hoshaphat’s pious visitation of his kingdom, and his zeal to send Levites with the princes, to instruct the people in the law, 2 Chron. xvil. 7, 8. Hezekiah’s great care and concern to restore religion, to sanctify the house of the Lord God of his fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place ; and the many other good works which he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to. seek his God with all his heart, 2 Chron. xxix, 5. xxxi. 21. Josiah’s indefatigable zeal from the very be- ginning of his reign to reform religion, and re- store the true worship, not only in Judah, but in the ten tribes also, 2 Chron. xxxiv. And he will plainly see, that these princes thought themselves placed on the throne as guardians of the faith, and as nursing fathers of the church, to establish and promote the kingdom of God in. their dominions. , Such rightcous kings, who have kept holiness holily, and been exceedingly zealous for the honour of the Lord God of Hosts, will always find what to answer; they-may even dare to appeal to him for a re- ward of their integrity and sincerity, and with humble confidence say, with Nehemiah, ‘* Re- member me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that | have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.” Nehem. xin. 14. Ver. 12. Yea, she is ecusily seen.} Rather, And she, &e. % Gewperrars. Ver. 13. She.preventeth them that desire her.} There is a fine elogium of Wisdom in this and the following verses, not only to. raise men’s curiosity after it, but likewise their de- sire of it; and, to encourage them the more in the pursuit of it, the author shews how easy it is to be obtained, that though she is glorious and beautiful, yet she is not so coy and back- ward as to hide herself, or ly away from her pursuers and admirers; but rather desires to be known to them, and even makes the first advances and overtures ‘of familiarity and ac- geen to. such as are sell disposed to her. hat follows in the context isa close imitation THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuar. VI of the Book of Proverbs, where wisdom is ré- presented as inviting men to come to her dwell- ing, as going into the most public places to call them to her, that such as listen to her, and watch at her gates, are happy, and those that find her, find life and happiness; expressions so like this writer, that were there not stronger arguments to the contrary, one would be al- most tempted to pronounce that they came both from the same pen. : Ibid. In making herself first known unto them,} Rather, according to the Greek, who desire to be known first by her. Ver. 15. To think therefore’ upon her (wis. dom) is perfection of wisdom. Rather prudence, Ppernceac. Ver. 17. For the very true beginning of her is the desire of discipline.] We have here, and in the context, the several degrees set down, by which a person well disposed towards wis- dom, may rise by little and little to the per- fection of it: the first step mentioned is the desire of discipline or instruction, as the first step to a cure is, being sensible that we are out of order—And the desire of instruction in vir- tue or wisdom, in religion or science, proceeds from the good opinion which a man entertains of it, and the love which he bears to it—-Arid this love is the cause of his perseverance and will- ing obedience—And his obedience will produce the reward of happiness—which happiness con- sistsin incorruption, i.e.ina state of immortality, and a crown of glory, that fadeth not away. This desire therefore of instruction, by a régu- lar deduction of particulars, and a kind of logi- cal inference and conclusion, may be said ah the principal thing which condactcth men toa kingdom, ad regnum perpetuum, according'to the Vulgate, as that which sets the machinea going, may properly be reckoned the canse. of all the other motions, and. of what is éffectéd in the conclusion by them. In this and th three following verses, the learned will easily discern the beauty of the climax, ér ‘regular gradation from one thing to another, like that of St Paul, Rom. v. 3, 4. “tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and “exper- ence hope, and hope maketh not ashamed.” See also 2 Pet. i. 5, not unlike to which is that of St Austin, “ velle meum tenebat iniinicus, ex Vol- a = untate perversa, facta est libido, & dum Servi: tur libidini, facta est consuetudo, & dum ‘caii- suetydini non resistitur, facta est hecessitas.” Canfegs..lib. vil, c. 4. But ‘that ‘of ‘Se Chry- sostom, with respect’ to baptism, is still’ more Cuar. VI. beautiful, and hardly to be paralleled; “ You are herein made not only free, but holy; not only holy, but just likewise ; not barely just, but children also; not children only, but heirs; not merely heirs, but brethren of Christ; not brethren only, but co-heirs ; not co-heirs only, but members also; not members only, but his temple; not temples only, but organs of the holy spirit.” omil. ad Neophyt. After which instances, it may seem almost needless to mention that of Tully, “In urbe luxuries creatur, ex luxuria existat avaritia, ex avaritia erumpat audacia necesse est; inde omnia scelera & maleficia nascuntur.” Ver. 21. If your delight be then in thrones and sceptres, O ye kings of the people, honour -wis- dom.| What has been observed of the useful- ness of history by a learned writer, is equally applicable to wisdom here recommended ; «¢ That it is useful both to small and great, to princes and subjects, but more necessary to princes and great men, than to all the world besides. Yor how can truth approach them a- midst the crowd of flatterers which surround them on all sides, and are continually commend- ing and admiring them, or, in other words, cor- rupting and poisoning their hearts and under- standings ? How can truth make her modest and feeble voice to be heard amidst such tu- mult and confusion ? how venture to lay be- fore them the duties and.slaveries of royalty ? how shew them wherein their true glory con- sists, and represent to them, that if they will look back to the original of their institution, they will clearly find they were made for the people, and not the people for them? how put them in mind of their faults, instil into them a dread of the just Judgment of posterity, and disperse the thick cloud which the vain phan- tom of their greatness has formed around them ? how that a Caligula, a Nero, and a Domitian, who were praised to an excess during their lives, became the horror and execration of man- kind after their death ; whereas Titus, Trajan, Antonius, and Marcus Aurelius, are still look- ed upon as the delights of the world, for having made use of their power only to do good.” Rollin, Vol. HI. p. 2. Ver. 22. And will not hide mysteries from you.] _The Vulgate here renders Sacramenta Dei, with- out authority from any of the more ancient ver- Sions, or countenance from the original ; the true meaning is, that he will reveal or discover the Arcana, or secfet things of wisdom, as the reason of her name, see Ecclus. vi. 22. her ori- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 79 ginal and existence, her nature and properties, her effects and operations, ** even from thé be- ginning’of the creation ;” for so I would un- derstand the words in the Greek text, ax’ apxis yeréocwe, viz. that wisdom was present at, con- curred in, and is displayed by the works of the creation, in a much better and loftier sense than that of our version, The Syriac translation seems to carry it still higher, understanding these words of wisdom, eternally existing with, or in Ged, before all creation, ‘‘ quod creatu- ras praecessit investigabo :” the author here en- deavours to discover and set down the origin of heavenly wisdom, and indirectly confutes the pretences and boastings of the heathen sages, all whose philosophy is of human invention, the work of a Socrates or a Pythagoras: but wis+ dom is not of so late a date, is more ancient than any historical monuments of the Greeks, has existed in all ages, may be traced through the times of the patriarchs, and its origin ulti- mately resolved into God himself. See ‘Calmet in loc, Ver. 23. Nor will I go with consuming envy.} Some Latin translations render, ‘* Neque cum eo, qui invidia tabescit, &c.”” [Which may seem to’ be confirmed: by the word ¥7ce, name- ly, 6 reJuxae pbcvw, as our translators’ took it, suck aman, as if they had read oz: & zorror, instead of x: tree. Though indeéd éro¢ may‘as‘well be rendered #, i. e. envy, which has nothing to do (« xowwe. Alex.) with wisdom.] So that the meaning may either be, that he would shew no envy or narrowness of spirit, in his discov- eries about wisdom, but as he had ‘* learned diligently, he would likewise communicate li- berally,” chap. vii. 13. or, that he would hold no commerce or society, with a person of that selfish and inhospitable temper. For envy does not only pine and grieve at the outward pros- perity of others, but is vexed at their inward accomplishment, at any attainments or happy discoveries which they may make, or have com- municated to them by others: whereas chari- ty, or a beneficent temper, which is kindly dis- posed towards all, envies no man’s merit ; nor does it pride itself in the singularity of its own knowledge, nor conceal what may be useful to others ; she is not afraid that others may equal, or even exceed her in knowledge, but’ with ‘pleasure opens and communicates to them what she apprehtends may be of -public benefit; and considers not ‘from’ what quarter a useful dis- covery comes, only, that its advantage may ‘be made general, and others share in the improve- , 80. {HE BOOK OF ‘WISDOM. ment. ,St Basil’s observation, upon this occa- sion, is very just and useful ; adepts, says he, or such as have made uncommon discoveries in any science, ‘ should be ready to impart their knowledge without envy ; and such as want to be instructed, should offer themselves without any shame :” Epist. 12. And the comment of Messieurs Du Port-Royal gives the true reason for imparting the treasures of knowledge to o- thers, ** C? est pourquoy on les doit communi- quer aux autres sans Envie, puis que plus on les repand sur eux, plus on en jouit, & qu’ elle ne diiminne point par la multitude de ceux qui la possedent.”’ Ver. 24. The naultitude of the wise is the wel- fare of the world, and a wise hing is the uphold- ing of the people.| The Greek reads (lista xéoue, and the Vulgate, ‘“ Multitudo sapientium sani- tas est orbis terrarum ;” and Calmet’s exposition is to the same effect, viz. “ ‘That wise men are, as it were, the physicians and recoverers of the world, especially of the wicked part of it; and that their examples and discourses are like pow- erful medicines to the sick.” ‘This is the very language and comparison of Philo; wa: (opis AUT Gov ési Te Davav—nala-rep ialpoe Tw voowles. De Sa- crific. Abel et Cain. Plato bears testimony to the truth of this last sentence, when he advises, “That kings should be philosophers, or philo- sophers kings.” Ille quidem princeps ingenii et doctrina: Plato, tum denique fore beatas res- publicas putavit, si aut docti et sapientes homi- nes eas regere coepissent, aut, qui regerent, omne suum studium in docirina ac sapientia collocas- sent. Hanc conjunctionem videlicet protestatis et sapientice saluti censuit civitatibus.” Cic. E- pist. x, ad Quint. Fratr. And it was no less pi- ously than excellently wished by Justin Mar. tyr, that kings and rulers, together with their sovereign power, might be possessed of wisdom and a good mind. CHA PP. VE, ‘Sur Arcument.—Under the borrowed character - Of Svérinun, the author proceeds to shew the ori- ‘ginal and pireer ful effects of wisdom ; that tho’ all men azree in this, that all are born, and all must die, it is wisdom that puts the difference beticeen man and mai, according as the inter- mediate time between the cradie end the grave is improved or neglected ; thut the wisest man was at first as helyless as other children, and attained to the perfection of understaading by a Cuap. VA steady pursuit ef wisdom, and prayers to:Ged Sor it, and that it is-attainuble by all others ot» serving the same method. The chapter eons cludes with a fine elogium of wisdom, as essén- tally inherent in God, aad derivative in manzug aray from his Divinity. Calmet says the six first chapters of this book are as the prefded! tu the work, which may he considered as ania bridgement or puraphrase of the nine first chaps ters of the Bouk of Proverbs. Pref. sur le Livre’ de la Sagesse. = Begg 4 re IT Myself aiso ana mortal mun like wnito-all.] As nothing is so great an enemy to instruction and improvement as pride, the author, intend- ing to communicate the secrets of wisdom, and the method of obtaining it, begins with shewing man his true original, what he is by nature, ‘and what by grace, thereby to depreciate his con. ceit, and inflame his gratitude: And to’ hit.’ ble even kings, and take away all affectati#n of divinity, a notion which flattery is too apt_to ipa. sinuate, he assures them that they are cant the children of Adam, sprung from the same first common parent with slaves and the mean- est of their subjects ; and as liable to corruption and mortality as the very beggars. Well, there- fore, may Pliny cry out, “ O dementiant Hom num, a talibus initiis existimantium ad supar? biam se genitos !” 2 9 ft Ibid. Lhe offspritg.of him that was first made of the earth.) Eusebius calls Adam apaze¢ yi- yeris, Preep. Evang. lib. xi.; and to this St Paw’ may be thought to allude, when he says, :that? “ the first man is of the earth, earthy,” 1 Cori* xv. 47. The derivation of homo, ab humo, ;ae=' cording to the etymologists, seems natural'/and: proper; and the very name Adan denotes ths" same original. The Greek writers accordingly make use of the term yxy, to denote’ the grvat’: antiquity and unknown original of their: firtt’ and earliest heroes. But though all: men this resemble Adam in their origination, yet may’ his condition, in this respect, be considered as singular, that he was created perfect at once’ both in soul and body, quite different from the state here described of his posterity, who arrive. slowly, progressively, and with difficulty,:to the perfection of either. Philo has:the same obstr- vation upon Adam, whom he calls emphatically ¢ ynyeic, and says, that he far excelled all that came after him in the excellencieg of: soul'atit” body ; Excives é pares avboa@rro¢ & yryeries 6 @atris YASS NUON Aoyryerne, inacrept a bisoc) Luyiw re 4 obit“ Cuar. VI. yeryernotar mel Sone, manpo tar re taeile Srareleciv, nara Tac iy auporigac verepCacce, De Mundi Opi- ficio. Ver. 2. And was fashioned to be flesh in the time of ten morths.| The Alexandrian MS, and all the other versions, make the comma after flesh, and join the rest to the next sentence. As to the precise time of ¢enx months mentioned here, the ancient Greek and Latin writers express themselves in like manner. Ovid speaking of the year of Romulus, which consisted only of ten months, says, Quod satis est utero matris dum prodcat infans, Hoe anno statuit temporis esse satis. Fast. lib. 1. And Virgil is no less express : Matri longa decem tulerunt fastidia menses. Eclog. iv. Upon which Servius makes this observation : Mares decimo nascuntur thense, femina nono. Plautus often mentions the like time ; he is par- ticularly jocular in what follows : Nam me illa in alvo menses gestavit decem, At ego illam (Famem] in alvo gesto plus annos decem. Plaut. in Sticho. The like time is mentioned by Terence, Adelrh. Act. iii. Sc. iv. and by Censorinus, De Die Na- tali,c. 12. Philo calls ziv Tesoapaxor ade, or forty weeks, ziv Cusyormwlarny tv 7, SarndrlesSas arOowmer iv ra ric guavwe égfasnpia, De Mose, lib. ii. And Menander mentions the same time as most u- sual, yuri xve Sexazunroc. Hippocrates reckons such as are born in the tenth month as most perfect and promising, Lib. de Septimestri partu. The- ocritus accordingly mentions Hercules as born at this age, Idyll. 24. Ibid. Being compacted in blood.] Mayeic év atuatle St Bernard expresses himself in the same man- ner, alluding, perhaps, to this very passage ; ‘* Quid sum ego? Homo de humore liquido: fui enim in momento conceptiones de humano semine conceptus: deinde spuma illa coagulata, modicum crescendo, caro facta est :” Meditat. C.2. Wye occurs in the like sense, Job x. ro. in the most correct editions of the LXX, and Pliny uses coagulum upon the like occasion. Ibid. And the pleasure that came with sleep.] The modesty and reservedness of this writer are here much to be admired; it is a resem- blance of the great decency in the sacred writ- ings upon the like occasion. ‘“Yave¢ in the ori- ginal, rendered sleep by our translators, here means concubites; the Syriac version reads, THE BOOK OF WISDOM. ot concupiscentia concubitus. Vie like expres. sion occurs, ch. iv. 6. where bastards are cajled viuve % avduor var See note on that passege. And in this sense, I think, we may understand that expression of Terence, Interdum propter dormias ; Eunuch. Act. ii. Sc. iii. We find sleep understood in the like sense frequently by the Hellenist Jews, and the Platonists, and in the following line of Homer ; Tlavlev piv 0005 isi 5 ore 15 Qsrerile;. Ver. 3. And I also, when I was born, drew in the commun air, and fell upon the earth. tis the most general opinion, that the foetus does not respire or breathe in its mother’s womb, but as soon as it is born, it then first begins to breathe, and cannot live without it. Galen, among the ancients, thought that it breathed before its birth ; but Aristotle, lib. de Spir. c. 3. is of a different opinion, and is followed herein by the moderns. This writer likewise seems to favour the negative. ‘To point out the in- fant’s helpless state after its birth, itis added, . that he fell upon the earth. The ancient Ro- mans seem to intimate this, by their custom of laying the new-born infant immediately upon the bare ground, and imploring the help of the goddess Ops, to assist and bring it forward. St Austin de Civit. Dei, lib. iv. and Calmet in loc. Ibid. And fell upon the earth, which is of like nature.| Coverdale renders, “ I fell upon the earth, which is my nature.” And the Syriac, “Omnium more hominum, super terram deci- di.” So that probably ouomz7alic may be the true reading ; and I have the satisfaction to find this conjecture confirmed by Junius, who ren- ders, in the nominative case,“ iisdem perpes- sionibus infestus.” The word éxsacrabic, which our translators have in this place very justly rendered, occurs, Acts Xiv. 15. 4 neg ¢uowmra- Occ taper Umiy arvbearor, Where they have as remark- ably miscarried: the true rendering of it, ac- cording to Erasmus, is, ‘t we also are of like na- ture with you ;” and not, “ men of like pas- sions with you,” as our version there has it; which destroys the beauty of the antithesis. It it judiciously rendered in the ancient Latin ver- sion, “ Mortales sumus, similes vobis homines,” which, in the judgment of a great critic, is far preferable to the rendering of our translators : Bentley’s Boyle’s Lect. p. 179. [If. the author had written suowzabic, he would not have placed it where it is; and particularly the article np going before it, shews that he wrote éuoorebi.] L 82 _[Ibid. Fel upon’ the earth, ‘xollexesor yiv. In- stead of xalémioo the construction requires xaJa- atoer. | : : Ibid. And the first voice which I uttered, was crying, as all others do.} Instead of the common reading in all the editions, aparny qurty tiv ouolar. @aow isa, | would read, mpurny Te Dury ouciay @aow fxx' ica seems tautology after éucfar. {It is axe in the Complut. Edit. in Bos’s LXX. Perhaps foa is the true reading. ex cannot stand, because there will be no construction:] We have here, and in the context,-a fine picture of human na- ture, and the state and condition of it very na- turally ‘represented in its several stages, viz. ** That man is a creature turned: naked into the: wide world, and cast upon the. bare ground, without any covering to shelter or defend him ; that, unfurnished with what is fit and necessary for him, he is.bound up and swaddled, and re- quires help and teaching even for the very feeding and supporting himself ;. that he is per- fect in no.other instance of nature’s teaching, except that of crying ; this he brings into the: world along with him, and a very fit emblem it is of ous fortune and condition ; that infirmities and miseries make up his middle state, and rotten- nessand worms his latterend : and histories of good authority: assure us, that some nations welcome: their children into the: world. with this saluta- tion, ‘* Child, thou art come into this world to. suffer; take it patiently, and hold thy peace.” See Charron. de. la, Sagesse. by many writers as.a prodigy :-Solin.. Mirabil. lib. i. In this just representation of the condi- tion of-human nature, our author. imitates the true Solomon; who has.drawn man at full length. in his true colours and proportions from the cra- dle to the grave, upon this-first stage of life is-very: apposite, viz: *« That nature seems, by the cries of the infant, to foretel its-future misery ;-and:when God said. to our first ‘:parents.before the fall, Encrcase and multiply, he intended it-as a bdlessing;. but it was a curse and a punishment upon Eve and- her posterity, when he afterwards :told her, In. sorrow: shalt thou bring forth children.” De Orilit. Leet Script. St Austin’s account is still more. melancholy ; ‘-Nascuntur homines: ho- mine generante, Deo creante, peccato inficiente, diabolo possidente.” But Pliny’s description of. lity ;. “-Quelques .connoissances: steriles!:d’uné- the infant state is most natural, and comes near- est: to ‘this writer: “ Natura.hominem tantum nudum, & in nuda humo, natali die abjicity ad THE BOOK OF WISDOM. And therefore - ‘Loroasters’s laughing when:he was born, instead: of crying, as.all other. children do, is remarked’ St. Chrysostom’s observation: vagitus statim &-ploratum ; nullumque tot.ents. maliam aliud ad lacrymas, & has protinus. vite; principio—Ab hoc lucis rudimento (quone ferag, inter Nos genitas).vincula:excipiunt; &.omnium membrorum nexus—infeliciter natus jacet,:ma.: Cuar.. Vi nibus pedibusque devinctis, flens animal, ceterjs:. imperaturum ; & a suppliciis vitam auspicatur;, unam tantam ob causam, quia natum est.) Phin: Nat. Hist. lib. vii. in Procem. “AS VToOWg: Ver. 4: Kai. év. ppoviiow. Syriac ~omits §y >and: translates .it carefully... One can. scarce. help; thinking, that either this should be some.other; word, or was a.term for.something-used about, children. IF. Hardouin, who thinks the Greek. Testament was translated from the Latin, would: think here that cams was originally in-the Latin, and that the Greek translator had read cusis‘in, stead of it: “¥ Ver. 6. But all men have one enterance into. life, and the like going out.) The meaning: fe very plain and obvious, That all are‘born,iand. all must die ; not, that. all depart by.the same, means, or in the same manner, as otf version’ seems to countenance ; for though there -i¥ but’ one passage into life, there:are perhaps: # thous. and ways out of it, and almost every accident suf- ficient, though different, to let in death. «'The- word tGode¢ in.the original, is the term -used dip, sacred and profane writers. for death, or.ia des. parture out of-this-life: See chap. ‘iii. 2.1 Ecchis, XXXviil. 23. 2- Pet. 4. 15. The eonnectionef: the following verse is intricate-; nor is it easy'to. determine what 82 réz0, or wherefore refers: toy. |:take the sense to be, That. as -his nature was: © the same with that of others, and wisdom: was: not a. natural gift to him aboye.others, therefore: he prayed to God ta.bestow it-on-him.: Ver. 7. I called upon. God,. und. the: spirit of: ewesdom cametome.] Calmet observes,that through- out this book we are to. understand wisdom) or: the spirit of wisdom, as synonymous ta religion, piety, the-fear of God, &c. ima sense:far dif- ferent from-that in which wisdom. is:takensit: the writings of the heathen philosophers, where: wisdom has .no. connection with; or:relationiae: religion, nor aims at its’ improvement; ibyiens. forcing the practice of virtuels: its chieiadesiga : appears to be only to make men:more:knows: ing, to brighten and improve. theit natural. parts, to raise and elevate the. genius, and to:anstil: some dry. useless notions of: an imperfect mare. morale fort imparfaite ;” Pref. sur:lé Lay deste Sagesse.: sai Ver, 8. J preferred her ‘before scepthes:and: ° Crap. NTI. ‘thrones, anf esteemed riches nothing in comparison oft: hers}: iVhezauthor gives here,.says the Com- ment-obiMessieurs ‘Du Port Royal,“ une-excel- lentsmarque pour juger si on a veritablement Ihesprit:de Sagesse & V esprit de Dieu,” &c. “ An ‘excellent.rule toijudge whether a man has the -tnuespirit ofi wisdom and piety ; for a true sin- ‘cara piety is that which esteems God above every thing, which desires nothing but him, which. prefers -his favour before thrones ‘and ‘sceptres, and placing its whole happiness and crowmof rejoicing in him, is pleased, easy, and contented, under the loss of all other things be- sides.” Such was that elevated piety of St Paui, which “ counted all things but dung, for, or in comparison of, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,” Philip. iii. 8. Ver. 9. Neither compared I unto her any pre- cious stone. | Alor ariurlor, ors 6 wag _xpucie, Ts Ae Perhaps the true reading may be, aifor aripsloy - romatiory A did not. compare unto her the invuluuble stone, -the topaz: See Job xxviii. 19. where the . topaz and gold are joined together in the same verse, as not comparable to wisdom ; nor does there seem any occasion for 37 or wae, ,the for- mer probably is improper, and the latter unne- eessary.’ [I have proposed above roratir, but if the word, is ever written rora? (as Ease? in Job) it will be still nearer. A passage in Prov. viii. Eg. of the version of Symmachus, suggests ano- ther. conjecture, a/or dri urfor & Nga? xpvsee, &e. There: it is,: xpeisowy Kapmos pe Xpuaiy Xa. In Gantic..chap. v. FI. we meet with xpusicr Kepad.] But after:various attempts to settle this, I am entirely persuaded that the following is the true, and: undoubted reading, wherein there is little or no variation in the text, and what is, must arise from.a-similitude of sound or letter, and necessarily: be..the- mistake of the copyist. I ‘would therefore: read thus 5 #71 6 1a? xpusde, x. 7. aco, See: particularly. Psal..xxi. 3. where what is called a-crown of pure goldin our version, and in the DRX, sipxvor ex a/by tui, is, in the Hebrew, said to. bea,crown of Paz. Which Bochart, both: in his-Phaleg. lib. ii, c. 27. and in his Ca- rraan,dib, i. ¢, 46. shews, was the Island ancient- lyzcalled ;‘Faprobane. i Of which Stephens gives the follewing;account <."* Nascuntur in ea_beryl- lin) hyasinthi,;ut.Prol, -refert, lib. vi. Item. ‘auram .& Argentum, & marmor testudini simide » prreterea gemma & margarite precipue bonitatis!}:Dict..Hist.. Geograph. jn-voce. ‘The foatsteps DE this word Paz sooteacth in Ptolemy’s time, who mentions in that island the river Pha~ -sispand the creek; or bay, Pasis ; and hence pro- THE ‘BOOK OF WISDOM. 83 bably.the word, ¢paz, for a- jewel, ora partitu- lar species of them, aud .rorafir in the Greek, See Castelli Lexic. if voce. i: Ibid. /s as a little sand.| Laupes értys should be translated snd of little value ; for that is fre- quently the signification of éaryos: So a‘yn regmon, a bride with a small. fortune, in the epigram 67 Callimachus, Antholog, lib. iit. we meet wittr vilis arena in the poets in this sense, Ver. 10. And chose to have her instead of light.] ‘Arti, pwréc. Our version seems faulty here, for though ezi is often used in the sense it is taken by our translators, it is probably improper in this place.» The meaning here is, ‘hat 1 detet- mined to have-her fora light or guide, in whict: sense avzi often occurs. The Vulgate accord- ingly reads, “* Proposui pro luce habere illam,’” and the Arabie,“ Elegi ut esset mihi pro luce,” which is the sense of Junius. Coverdale fol- lows the Vulgate, and renders, “ I purposed to take her for my light ;” to which agree the o- ther ancient English versions. Or the meaning may be, that he chose her for the sake of her light, gratié lucis. There may be also another sense, that he chose. her pree /uce, rather than light, because, as it immediately follows, “ The light that cometh from wisdom never goeth out, but after light succeeds darkness-:” See ver. 29, 30. In all these, senses evi is used by good writers, whose authority will warrant our inter- pretation. Any of which is preferable to that in our version. This and the two preceding verses seem taken from Job xxviii. 15, &c. and are a close imitation of that ancient writer. Or they may refer to Prov. Vili. 10. xi. 18, 19s [Ibid. For the light that cometh from her, gtylos, brightness. } Ver. 11. All guod things together caine to me with her, and innumerable riches in her hands. } 2. e, through her hands. So the Vulgate,"** per manus illius,” which the anciént English ver- sions follow. 1 have before observed, that! this writer often personates Solomon, and this long prosopopeeia is spoken under that borrowed character, This verse refers to that: grant of wisdom which is mentioned, | Kings ii, where Solomon, upon his advancemeat to the throne, prays earnestly to God for the direction and assistance of wisdom, without any anentidn made of wealth, honour, or long life; and God bestows upon him, for his disinterested piety, the two former if great abundance, though un- asked and even unexpected by him, togethér with “* wisdom and understanding to dis¢efn judgment.”...’: The like -promise. of additional 9 54 good things occurs in other parts of scripture, ta such as ‘seek God's kiagdo:n in the first lace.’ And indeed, throughout the whole history of the Old Testament, and particularly under the Mosaic Cispensation, rewards and promises are a:nexed to piety, or true wisdom, and almost all temporal advantages distributed in proportion to the degrees of it, as favourable seasons, plenty, fruitfulness, health, peace, de- liverance from dangers, and victory over enc- mies; Which though very valuable privileges, and such wherein the prosperity and welfare of any nation chiefly consist, are yet very far ex- ceeded by those greater blessings, and more worthy of God’s magnificence to bestow, re- served for the righteous in another state. On the other hand, wickedness, especially when it becomes general, draws down all the scourges of God's anger, famine, plague, war, destruction, bondage ; and is the true cause of the ruin of whole kingdoms. After this account it may seem needless to mention the curse which it brings upon private families, which are often observed to dwindle away insensibly ; and their prosperity, like Jonah’s gourd, wither through the venom of this worm which preys uponits vitals. _{Ver. 12. And I rejviced in them all, or above all things, ini wéaw, Alex. and Complut.) : Ibid. Because wisdom gocth before them.] Avray nyerat, (opia, i. e., Wisdom not only brings them with her, but conducts dnd heads them, like their leader and commander. The Gene- va Bible renders, “ For wisdom was the author thereof ;” .but the rendering of Vatablus is more exact and judicious, “ Ut quorum caput sit sapientia,” that wisdom was the head or most valuable of all the gifts which God gave him. The Vulgate reads, without any autho- Tity,.“ Quoniam antecedebat me sapientia,” which seems not so proper or agreeable to this place. _ . Ver 13, This verse seems to be very abrupt; probably it should be connected to the rath in this manner, ay Kor 8 aufay yetryy evar Trav, worws rt tuabor, ag0crac 7s wsladdour, &e, Ver. 14. Which they thut use become the friends ef God, being commended for the gifts that cume from learning.) i. ©. recommended to, God, which: is the better rendering ; and thus Cover- dale’s and the other ancient English versions understand it, which read,“ And are accepted. with hym for the gyfts of wysdome.” Our tran- slators followed a corrupt Greek copy in the first part of this sentence, which read, j ef xorepuu, aod the Vulgate and Arabic seem to THE BQOK OF WISDM: Crsr. MiL have-followed the same; and so do: the rmast ‘ancient English versions. But we need ap obber argument to prove this a corrupr reading, than the. badness of the Greek, for, xpaquer does mot admit of such a construction. .. ‘The. Alexandn. an MS preserves the true reading, #r;0i tfeodgem, and the Syriac renders. accordingly, a Kath pos- sederint cam,” i. e. they that possess wisdomen ter into friendship with Gad, as the margin rightly has it: See ver. 27. of this chapter, and ch. vi. 19. where the like sentiment..oceuts, For incorruption, as it is there called, or-a life led according to the rules of piety and wisdom,. +* maketh us near to God, and to be allied un- to wisdom,” is not only the way to obtain.im- mortality, ch. viii. 13. but is called, ver.19. immortality itself. But that passage of St Paul, “ He that is joined unto the Lord is ane. spirit,” 1 Cor. vi. 17. which can never enough be ad- mired, points out the nearest intimacy and_ae- lation; such a happy and accomplished Chrig- tian is mystically one spirit with God, by. a-spi- ritual and more noble union than that: of flesh.’ Our author probably refers in this passage-‘to Abraham, who had the singular honour, of-go high a title ; for he was called, says St .Jagnes, for his taith or righteousness, the triend.af Ged, Jaines ii. 2, and probably he should -herso. sty ed Gen. xviii. 17. where Philo’s reading. is wety observable wi trmanupo tyw axa.’ ACpadp pay pie which our version wholly omits, and,the LXK express not so fully. ‘The like obseryation.mpy be made upon the ancient Vulgate, Judith.vit- 26. where the rendering is, “ Pater noster Abyp- ham per multas tribulationes prohatus, Dei amicus effectus est ;” of which there is na men- tion in the LXX, nor in our translation of the place ; it shews, however, the sense of those.ip- terpreters. And the like appellation, we fad given to Abraham by Clemens Romanus, Gi-. mens Alexandrinus, and other writers, See, pote on ver. 2.7. plat Haile Ver. 15. God hath granted me to speak. nail would.} Ex animi sententia, according .ta,the Vulgate ; but Coverdale’s rendering, js, .\) aed hath granted me to, talke wysely.”:,. Ut conayke: loquar, says the Syriac ; and Vatablus,seatenty- ose” And so Calmet, “ De Parler une ae hiere sententieuse, & pleine de, Sagesse,”, whieh xara yroun Will admit. of, [But i-may be, doupt- ed if the Greek phrase is ever used in, this sone; therefore it should be rendered, as F could.spinbs] Some Copies express this. by way. of-prayaroie! dyna Sd¢ exer, which is the reat marginal ; reading, and of the Syriac, and, of St. Gregoryy;.29 Mor. Ger. VIL o0'f72 bit there is no reason for such an altera- tid) the sexise of our. version, which is followed py Calmet and all the commentators, exactly agreeing with the character of Solomon, whose fase for wisdom was such, that people ‘came . from all parts of the world to hear and be in- structed by it: and we have the prayer for wisdomat length throughout the whole ninth chapter, so that it may seem here superfluous. ‘Ibid. And to conceive as is meet for the things that are given me.] Or, more properly, to con- ceive, as is meet, of the things that are given me, i. e. To have just and worthy sentiments of the gifts which I have received, D’uvor des sentimens dignes des duns que jai regis, says Cal- met. {‘* To conceive suitably to the things that ‘ate given me.” ‘The construction is «2a dy "‘Weuéror, OF asyouérov. In the other sense, to con- ceive, as is meet, of the things, &c. it should have been wepi Tov Sdoucrar, as Vi. 15. 7) » tvuun= Vives ogi avri¢.} Our translators follow the Vati- ‘ean copy, which reads oui, which is the sense likewise of the Vulgate, and of the ancient Enghsh versions. The Alexandrian MS pre- fers xxyeufrar, which both the Syriac and Arabic interpreters follow, and seems indeed the truer reading. [Our translators badly render in the ‘margins, or, are to be spoken of, which would be ‘REY Birt oped raw. ; | fIbid. That leadeth unto wisdom. rig (apias ‘oink, i.e. the guide of wisdom, or, that guideth wisdym, not, that leudeth unto wisdom, which ‘would have been ete rity cagiar ddnyic, see John xvi. cr So odnyic tvpacr, Rom. ii. 19. 4 guide of the blind, not, that leadeth unto the blind. | “Wer. 16. All wisdom also, and knowledge of workmanship.| [Rather, shill, and knowledge of dorbwanchi| Even wisdom itself, which men ‘gre so apt to value themselves upon, and to. Boast of as their own, as being the supposed ‘fevit of their own understanding, acquired with much industry and pains, must yet be acknow- \Yledgéd: to come from God, 7 aalpic rar garer. “The Heathens themselves ascribed the first in- vehtion ofthe several arts and sciences to super- ‘ihattifal assistance, and looked upon the authors “GF them “as so many gods; as if ‘it were out of the power of unassisted reason, or man’s bare “Wgenuity, to make such useful discoveries. But ‘the’ honour ‘which- they ignorantly ascribed to. Seite deified benefactor, with justice belongs to ‘ the\trué-God ;. for, as Job expresses it,'* It is “the inspiration of the Almighty that giveth men. wadérstanding? chap. xxxii. 8. But what are ‘we'té understand by “ the knowledge of work- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 85 manship,” in-the following part of the verse? The present reading of the Alexandrian, and the other copies, is ig/aredy tamiyn, which seems to be a mistake, for no such word is to be met with; I think the true reading is, ég/acry tmsiun, Which is very properly expressed by, ‘* the knowledge of workmanship,” in our version. Vatablus renders with great judgment, operum scientia. And the Geneva Bible expresses it accordingly, “ The knowledge of the works,” i. e. works of art. The sense is, that the attainment to a great perfection in these is the gift of God, and can- not be complete without his inspiration and as- sistance; for I am rather inclined to think, from the manner of expression, that wisdom and knowledge are not to be taken here in their usual high sense, and as they generally ‘are in this writer, and in the book of Proverbs, but mean only extraordinary skill or accomplish- ment in work. Thus Exod. xxxi. 3. (which I am persuaded this passage refers to, and proba- bly ch. viii. 6.) it is said, that God called Beza- leel for the work of the tabernacle, and filled him with wisdom and understanding, and know-. ledge in all manner of workmanship, where ias- hun, ovvecss, copia, are all used by the LXX to ex- press a great perfection in manual skill. And what follows in ver. 6. of that chapter is very observable, “ In the hearts of all that are wise hearted, or ingenious, I have put, (says God,). wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded them ;” i. e. God, by an inspiration from above upon this occasion, endued the minds of all such ingenious persons as were employed, with an extraordinary skill, which they could never have attained to by their own industry, at least not so soon, nor so periectly as to go immediately and skilfully about the building of the tabernacle in.the manner he designed it. See Patrick in loc. Ver. 17. To know how the world was made. | Though philosophy, through the-improvements which it has received in every age, may be able to explain the operations of the elemerits ; how: the clouds are engendered, the rain and.thunder produced; the. treasures of the snow and, hail collected, and “ where is the way in which light dwelleth,” may judge of the foree; qualities, and temperature of the eléménts, and the sensible effects. which they have upon human’ bodies, and understand the’ other: phenomena. of nature, which follow in this chapter, and are, pnumerat- ed more ‘at large: Job’ xxxviii. where, God pro- poses the like questions, and challenges Job to answer theth ;* yet’ this ‘important ‘truth. of “the 89° ‘efeation of the world can only be certainly known, and truly understood, by communica. tion from-God, or revelation in his word; for neither can reason, nor philosophy, nor the test account in profane history, which tdkes in only temporal facts and events, give any satisfaction about the original of the world which we inha- bit, whether it had a beginning, how or when it was made, by whom or to what end it was cre- . ated, how it is supported and governed, whether it is continually decaying, or to last all eternity : We learn nothing certain from thence, what'we really are ourselves, what is our original, nature, design, and end. Whereas divine wisdom, im- parted by God, and contained in sacred history, teaches us in a few words all these great truths; that the world was not the product of chance, but the work of God’s power ; that it was made ‘in time; that he made it out of nothing, or ‘rather called it into being by his Almighty fiat, according to, and in the manner related in the ‘book of Genesis, so denominated from contain- ing the true account of its creation; that his providence continues it in being, and God is Almighty in that respect likewise ; that ‘man, the Lord of the creation, sprung from the dust, and is resolvable into it at God’s pleasure ; that his infinite wisdom is no less displayed in the ‘heauty, symmetry, and contrivance of the world, than his omnipotence in the act of creation. And in this latter sense I find the Vulgate un- derstands this place, which renders ‘' disposition- ‘em orbis terrarum,” which seems rather'to in- clude the nature and constitution of the world, its order ‘and ceconomy, the arrangement and union of the several parts, their wonderful cor- respondence, relation, harmony, and mutual de- pendance, for the good of the whole. But in either sense, divine wisdom is the best instruc- tor, it shews when this beauty and order first ex- istéd, who is the 6 rs vzaave yereorde ync, Chap. xiii. 3. and the fountain of all perfection. Calmet observes, that the author here designed by his elogium, to set forth the superiority of divine wisdom, ‘and to advance it above the theology or philosophy of the heathens, “ d’ elever la vraye sagesse au dessus de la philosophie des Gentils.” Comment. in loc. "« Ver. 18. The heginning,~ending, and midst of the times, the ‘alterations of the turnings of the sun, &e.}'C Trrnings of the sun, i.e. the changes of the tropics.] Crigen understands by tinies here, the most early,* the future, and the pre: ‘sent times, Hom. 21. in Luc. St Ambrose reads THE ‘BOOK: OF AVISBOM. Cuke. Vt? rerum, instead of tefeporum, and expoimds tlig plice of things dose in ahcient times, of eveits to come to pass hereafter, and the transaction§ of the présent age: Lib. ii, de’ Abrah.'¢rz, Grotius understands it, of the several seasohy of the year, their beginning, continuance, ‘did + ending, and their successive and ‘regular: be: turns, which is most agreeable to the context. The sense of the whole seers to be, that Sdloé mon knew the greatest elongation or distanée of the sun from the earth, and its nearest’ ajfi proach to it; the * solstices, solstitiorum vitissi? tudines,”? says Vatablus, the equinoxes, and 4 the alterations which proceed trom its’ coufst and motion through the ecliptic ; as the chalieé of the seasons, the vicissitude of day and night; the succession of time, and the revolution’ éf years. As these phenomena succeed one ae nother in the account of this writer, almost’ 4s regularly as they do in the heavens, it is'sdf prizing that the Vulgate here should trafistaté. Tpomdy arrayas, ** motum mutationes;” whith has no manner of connection with the subjéct; {Probably he read zpézur, as in Ald, and Com.” plut. and confounds the words.}] Our tranifas. tors have rightly judged in applying’ itto'the sun, and by attending to the sense of the context, have avoided the equivocalness of the Gree? Ver. 19. The circuits of years, and thé post: tions of stars. ] "Eviauloy xURKYE. fAld: “Arab, Valg. have tnavfs.] By xvxave in the plural nim: ber [ would rather understand ets slat years, the lunar and solar cycles, esjpecially f these were known and used in this viiiter stilt > and asipwr Sécets | would rather translate, thé Places of the stars, 7. e. the longitude ‘and Jati- tude of them, which the word position does Hot so strictly express. 1 FA FO, Ibid. The violence of winds:] tiriupistor Bia? Junius renders, spirituum vires,’ by" which’ He understands the powers and’ ficalties of thé human soul: He thinks the mention of wid’ and their force very absurd in this’ place,’ ai supports his conjecture from the very next set tence, which contains the reasonitigs of men, Origen reads, , spirituum viodentias, and Under: stands the passage, of the power and viclence of evil spirits ; which is a probable interpre ad tion enough, if there was any foundation fgt the tradition Which he mentioNs‘of Sdldmén’s wuiting several books De ‘Exorcisniig: Foyt, 21. in’ Lue. * [If the’ author’ had “ean winds, he’ would ‘probably have” written’ RO orivezrer, but aviuey, “As ‘in other + hoes! $6 ag BON See OU s ekegicd: Tae Cuap. VI. WW. 46 Umd Bias ayiuor. arevuole in this writer never signifies winds ;. ovevxe.in the singular number often does. ] Ver. 20. The- natures of living creatures and the furies of wild beasts. Calmet renders, * . instinct des bétes, ou leur penchant ;” the tem- per, inclination, or instinct of beasts. ‘This is agreeable: to what is recorded of Solomon, 1 Kings iv. 33, that ‘* he spake of beasts and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.” And the account in the latter part of this verse,. viz. his great skill in ‘* the diversities of plants,. dnd the virtues of roots,’ answers-to the for. mer part:of the place referred to, ez. that e he spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, even unto.the hyssop that springeth out of the wall.?? It is obvious ta observe, that this writer very frequently assumes several. par- ticulars in the character. of: the real Solomon, with an artful design to pass for the sane per- son, and to make his pretences more plausible, and his judgment more infallible. . Ver. 21. And.all such things as are either se- cret or-manifest, them I know. | “Osa ri isw xpum'la % tupari tyr, which is the reading in all the printed-copies, and followed by our translators ; but there seems to be a mistake tn all the edi- tions :. For where is the great wonder in Solo- mon’s knowing things- that: are manifest ; or what glory,is-there or excellency in any man to make such a discovery ? The true reading undoubtedly. is epan, which is-contirmed by the Alexandrian MS, by Eusebius, Prep. Evang. lib. ii. c. 7, and St Ambrose, De Abrah. lib. ii, c. 7. The Gomment also of Messieurs Du Port Royal takes it in this sense, ‘* J’ay appris-tout ce qui estoit caché, & qui n’avoit point encore esté decouvert ;’” #. e. such things as have not yet been discovered. The Vulgate very justly. renders, ** Quacunque sunt ab- sconsa aut improvisa didici,”’ which Coverdale’s version follows, ‘* all such thyngs as are secret: and not loked for have | learned ;’? which is the rendering likewise of the Doway. Bible.- Pyoras,, seems also a better reading than ¢yror, as it agrees with adéva:, which goes-before, es- pecially as it is-connected with-the conjunctive particle 7. Ver. 22. For wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me:] Wisdom: may be con- sidered either as a’ divine attribute, the infinite wisdom of God, or as it is, in some-measure,’ madé' known to, and participated by, a finite creature, not as the natural property of the crea- ture, but as a superadded gift of God: It is ca- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 87 pable therefore of very exalted epithets, as it is the wisdom of God, such as, warlar reyrizi, go- roysric, axorvfor, wav loluvayor, aavlerioxoncy, and all that follow in-the 25th and 26th verses. But wisdom considered in man as the gift of God to him in proportion as he deserves it, will admit of inferior, yet proper epithets, as Yi wayler oper WHUMLTOY, roepav, xabapcor® ey Wuxas ooiag Hilz- Cairssa pines Ow 4 wpopitas xilasxevala, Ver. 27. “It is a treasure that never faileth,” ver. 14. It may be communicated liberally to others, ver. 13. It maketh men speak wisely, and con- ceive as is meet, ver. 15. It is more to be-de- sired, as being more profitable than any thing. else, and teaches the cardinal virtues, and every. thing useful to be. known, ch. vill. 5, 6, 7, 8. All the other epithets, AS reepor, aysor, rem ov, Tpavoy anorui ors (agic, ceri uci ]or, giarayator, &c. will suit wisdom, either as original and essential in God, or.as it is communicated to, and may be con- sidered as derivative in. man; for, as Calmet very judiciously observes, ‘* Ce qui est dit dans ce livre touchant la Sagesse, s’entend tantét de la Sagesse incréée, & tantét de Ja Sagesse créée & inspirée aux hommes :” ‘This distinction is very necessary for the right understanding this chapter... [ibid. For tm her is an understanding spirit, iss: >. auth wrvye veegéy. Ald. hath only aun, which agrees well with ch..i. 6.], Ver. 22,.23.. The author here, in his enume- - ration of the several.excellencies and perfections: . of wisdom, seems.to use different. words of the same signification, to set forth his description the more copiously, and for the stronger con- veyance of. his-own .sentiments ; but perhaps, upon a nicer attention to the peculiar. force of the.Greek words, and to their order.and situa- tion, a separate consistent sense. may be given - to each epithet: thus eysr, and ayiawo com- monly give the same sense, but in strictness are different ; as are also. ewepltriiy (Fo trepyelixay, | and axial The negative in either case falls short in sense of the positive epithet. Our - translators indeed, who render corparlor,. not subject to hurt, i..e.. incapable .of receiving hurt, have explained away the true meaning of the word (see the Note on: ch. i..4: where the like mistake in our version is taken notice of.) It means. rather, not: disposed,:or inclined to do hurt, and would be better rendered harm- less, zwnocuus, according to Vatablus,. the same as arnuor., The Geneva Bible renders, xot hure- ful; and Cpyerdale’s, and the other ancient . English versions, following the Vulgate, swere . 38 which yet falls short of cvipfermiy, which means, not only inoffensivexess, but a readiness to do positwe acts of kindness. Bé€ay and azparte differ likewise in degree; for here the negative expresses more than the positive, viz. such a stedfastness as is not to be moved or shaken. Among the positives, zpariy and (apie give com- monly one sense, but they may be understood differently ; the first may be expounded eloguent, see ch. x. 21. the latter cleur, or manifest.— The difference between atzfor, evxérarov, and cu, will best be explained by a parallel passage, Heb. iv. 12. Zav yb 6 adyor re Oew, % eveoyic, % Tom- OTe poe v@ep maoay Maxaipar, % SiikrGnerog axes pepious duxiic re % mreuuroc, wpuay Te % Muendr, x xpilindg ivOumnocor xed error napS/ac. Acrfov, subtil, i. e. piercing into the secrets of mens hearts, answers to the latter part of that verse ; evxéJo answers to inpyie in the beginning, i. e. active, or opera- tive, which is more expressive than lively 3 ofv may as well signify sharp, and so indeed Cover- dale’s version has it, and the Vulgate, and Ju- nius ; and then it answers to rousripec veep waouy wexupar, in the middle; which passage will e- qually explain the 24th verse of this chapter.— By oroyertc, worvuepte, may be understood, that wisdom is in its origin or fountain simply one and the same in God, /a méme, says Calmet, ex substance & en nature, but variously expressed, and infinitely diversified in his works. The thought is not very unlike that of St Paul, “There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit ; and there are diversities of administra- tions, but the same Lord ; and there are diver- sities of operations, but it is the same God that worketh all in all,” 1 Cor. xii. 4,5, 6. in which sense it is further said of wisdom, ver. 17. that, “ being but one, she can do all things, and remaining in herself, she maketh all things new.” See Note on that place. Ver. 23. Going through all understanding (i. e. intellectual,) pure, and must subtile spirits.] This may be understood in two senses, accord- ing to the different reading of the Greek; our version follows the Vatican edition, which reads, Si waver Nosy @reupdror vespav, xadapor, rem olarwr. According to that, the sense is, that wisdom, as a divine attribute, not only penetrates into things corporeal, but things spiritual and intel- lectual ; is not only a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart, but the several or- ders and degrees of intellectual beings, even the most pure and invisible spirits, how knowing or subtle soever, are subject to it, and within its BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuap. Vit, influence.—The Vulgate reads in the nomina. tive case, intelligibilis, mundus, subtilis, which Coverdale’s version, and the Syriac follow, from a copy, doubtless, which read, rsepiv xalapiv, acre Jéralor, still applying each particular epithet:t wisdom itself, exclusive of the consideration of other spirits. Lg [The four words, wrwyarer, reepor, xabapor, remn Jorerwy, are, no doubt, the addition of a later hand, and the author wrote no more than Je warrey xopv, Of which words, and the word evxiviloc, Ver. 22. the following verse 1s an ex, plication. The author had already said (ver. 22.) that wisdom had in her orca roepiv, rexliv, and aucaurlo : Why should he repeat these same epithets, which add nothing to the sense? Bes sides, what are we to understand by avevperep voepor? Are there any spirits that are not rosea ?, Ver. 24. For wisdom ts more moving than eny motion ; she passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her pureness.| The account of Camilla’s swiftness, according to Virgil’s beau. tiful description of it, is surprising and incre. dible : Assueta pedum cursu prevertere ventas. Illa vel intacte segetis per summa volaret Gramina, nec teneras cursu lesisset aristas: Vel mare per medium, fluctu suspensa tumenti, Ferret iter, celeres nec tingeret aquore plantas. * ZEneid. lib. vik, hy 2 uf No bodily motion can be conceived to exceed this in quickness ; but the spirit of wisdom. being incorporeal, and by reason of her pureness, nat meeting with any sensible resistance or impedi- ment, far surpasses it; nay, she is quicker than thought, because she pervades the mind itself, is not only present to mens thoughts, but pre. vents and influences them: “, She meeteth them,” as this writer elegantly expresses. it, ‘in every thought,” ch. vi. 16. “ Elle vient au devant d’ eux dans tous les bonnes pensees qu’ ils forment ;” and powerfully acts upon the, will to put such good thoughts and resolutions into practice. And this power she exerts in an in- stant, and carries her view through’all things at the same time ; which, perhaps, is Fulgen- - tius’s meaning, when he translates this place, ‘“* Attingit ubique propter suam munditiam,” De Persona Christi, lib. ii. In this sense wise dom may be said to be “ permeator univeysita» tis 3” which short sentence of Seneca is more,eX« pressive than the many metaphysical cixcumlo- cutions of the schoolmen. : ' te Esap.-VAl. Ver. 25. She isthe breath of: the poiter of God] “Aruic tiie re Oce Suraews, i.e. the aflla- tus of the Almighty : where aruic; even applied to eternal Wisdom itself, is not such a degra- ding ov diminutive term, as Capellus, in his strictures upon this book, has represented it ; for d¢ruic may be considered as equivalent to envua; and our translators, we may observe, render accordingly: aruls by breath; but it cer- tainly stands clear of: that objection, if under- stood of infused or derivative wisdom, commu- nicated from God to his sdints and prophets in guch degrees‘and proportions as were necessary. lato makes use of the-same image; and repre- sents wisdom as a vapour, or spark of celestial fire, communicated from heaven to men ; Plato in Protag. ‘The like thought is to be met with in Philo, De Somniis. . ' . Abid. A pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty.] Arepjora Sofnc, 1. €. a pure efflux or emanation issuing frem God’s' glory ; which is more agreeable to the Greék than influence, which our version:usés. The Vulgate reads, ««.Emanatio quedam claritatis,” which the an- cient English versions ‘follow: Or it may be rendeted, in fewer words, a glorious emanation of the Deity. Some.of.the primitive writers ex- press themselves in, like manner concerning the noyos, Whom, they style tpocwre Ow: We meet with the like expression, Eccles. v. 6. which a learned writer translates, ‘‘ The .personating Shechinah of God,” 'Tenison on Idol. p. 334. ‘And for the same reason he is called, ‘* The an- gel of his face,”’ by Philo and the ancient Jews, because he truly reflected the glory of his per- son. . [Ibid. No defiled thing can fall into her. Eis aviv wagumiala, i.e. fall into her unawares, co- vertly, or by the by ; as wapeasilucay, Jude, ver. 4. wapesinter, Galat. il. 4.) Ver. 26. She is the brightness of the everlast- ing Light.] i. e. Wisdom is:an effulgence or ray streaming from the otiginal fountain of light, the resplendence of the eternal glory, and the reflection of its brightness. St James ac- cordingly styles-God, trom. whom all wisdom and illumination, proceed, Tlatip Tar porur, ch. 1: 17. It is observable that the word used by our auther for ‘brightness, is a@ravyacuax, the very same that is made use of in the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. i. 3. which’ by Estius upon the place is very properly rendered deradiatio: See also Leigh’s Critica Sacra in Voce, ‘Azavyerue. This similitude of a ray from the sun, or light from light, must be allowed to be a fine iiiustra- 'TRE BOOK OF ‘WISDOM. BO tion, and a‘ proper represeniation, of the infinite wisdom of God, considered as a divine attribute ; and the same has been applied to illustrate the consubstantiality of the tye. Thus Justin Mar- tyr says, that he proceeds from ‘the Father, «; ard Te urle odc, as light from the sun; and in another place, ds ar) wupée wupd, as fire from fire, Dial. cum Tryph. And by the Nicene council he is called more closeiy, “ Light of Light :” But whether any such notion is here meant, o: the arcyee described by our author, shall be con- sidered in the next words. Ibid. The unspotted mirror of the power of Ged, and the image of his goodness.) (tis re Ov tepyeiac, i.e. of the operative power of God.} “ Limpidissimum divine virtutis speculum,” according to Vatablus ; i. e. she is the true and unsullied glass, in which we. may discern the beauty of God's works, which therefore reflects his power in the strongest and best light, and exhibits the perfection of his goodness. One cannot help observing, that from ver. 21. to the end of the chapter, the epithets thicken, and that the character of wisdom is expressed in a very sublime style, a magnificence and grandeur of language, and in terms seemingly Importing divinity ‘itself. Hence some have taken occasion to imagine, that soinething more and ‘higher is contained herein than an eneo- mium of wisdom considered in its highest de- nomination, as a divine attribute, and have applied therefore these ‘passages to the person of the xsyec, or to the Holy Spirit. And indeed it must be confessed, that however originally intended, they may, by way of accommodation, be so used and applied, and considered as ex- pressive similies, to illustrate the eternal gene- ration ; nor is the manner of expression very unlike that of Heb. i. 3. whichis very full and explicit on that occasion ; and it must be fur- ther allowed, that these passages have been so understood and explained by most of the com- mettators, and even some ‘of the father's, many of whom use expressions concerning the asyz very niuch resembling these, and endeavour to explain that mystery by the very same simili- tudes and illustrations :-See Justin ‘Martyr, Dial. cum Tryph. ~ Epiphan. in Anomeo. Heres. c. 3: & cont. Aétium. Heres. 76, Holstenii Dissert. 9. in loc. quad. Concil. Nicwen. and Waterland’s Serm. passin. And some of the primitive writers, to confirm their . point, have actually quoted and argued from these very passages; see particularly Pulgen- . y . . . a . tius de Persona Christi, ad Trasimund. Jib, ji. M go Philo, who speaks the sentiments of .the an- ‘Gent Jews, and is by some thonght the author bf this book, from its great resemblance to matiy of his notions, has some expressions, in ‘relation to. the asyes, very similar to these, De Confus. Linguar. and de Monarchia, which others, with more probability, contend he bor- rowed from hence. But as this kind of rea- soning, drawn from authorities, is precarious and inconclusive, and slender or suspicious proofs are really disscrviceable to a cause ; and as that great mystery, of the eternal generation and coequality of the adyes, is sufficiently esta- blished by canonical and undoubted Scripture, and wants not to be defended by any disputed testimony, “ Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis ;” I rather incline to the following sense, viz. That the writer of this book, who perso- nates, and, as far as he can, imitates Solomon, observing in the Book of Proverbs, particular- ly ‘chap. vili. how wisdom is praised under the character af a divine female, or celestial beauty, pursues the same figure or image in a more co- pious and encomiastic way, using indifferently wisdom and the spirit of wisdom, as the same beautiful object, which he loved, and desired to make his spouse, &c. But though he speaks of her as an intelligent person, and personal acts are ascribed to her, yet this seems to be a figurative way of writing, taken, as I said, from Solomon’s Proverbs. And if the well known passages in the chapter above cited be scarce allowed to be understood of the asyer, (see Bishop Patrick’s argument to'that chapter, and the ‘writers in the Trinitarian controversy) much less reason have we to assert these pas- sages of the Book of Wisdom to belong to the asyac, or to the Holy Spirit, considered as “ per- sons in the Godhead.” For if this encomium be. supposed to come from any (Hellenistic) Jew, or even from the pen of Solomon, such titles and attributes of the divinity, if interpret- ed of the acye«, or Holy Spirit, seem incompa- tible with, those times. I am therefore more inclined to understand this high encomium, of a divine attribute, the infinite wisdom of God, communicated sometimes, according to the exigence of the occasion; to his saints and pro- phets in different portions, as a drop from his fulness, ver. 27. and then there will be no oc- casion to suppose these passages to be an addi- tion or interpolation of some Christian writer who borrowed ideas. and expressions from the New Testament, which. seems.to be the senti- ment of Grotius with respect to many passagis THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cxar. MED, of this book.;, but how «far his; conjeetured), rigbt,.and whether itis.always safeitafddiqy him, [ shall not determine. \‘:1 shall ‘onlysyb. join Calmet’s remark upen this assértidn,! and answer in. his words: “* Grotius's’ést imagtheé que ces passages y avoient été ajoutez par; qe. que Chrétien depuis la mort du Sauveury ce qui est contre tonte sorte d’.apparence,:-ecs pi. sages.étant tellement liez avec la suite-diydis. cours, qu’on ne peut les en separer.sans yin. lence:” Pref. sur le livre de la Sagesse, tre, “ The passages objected against are so intey. woven with the rest of the subject, and Haye such a necessary relation to the context, that they cannot be separated without manifest: vio. lence.” And the same learned writer there ob. serves, that this author often speaks of wisdom, - considered as an attribute only, even inthe most pompous and magnificent terms, and ap} plies to it that which in strictness only belon to the Deity itself. In his comment upon‘this place he has this further remark, which will Justify my sense of it: ‘ That as it is very common in natural cases, to assign to the effect many properties and attributes of the-cause 3's0 in matters spiritual, that perfection is frequent- ly attributed to qualities proceeding from Gad, which strictly belongs only to the Holy-Spitit which communicated them.” he teohat: Ver. 27. And remaining in herself; she-mak- eth all things new.) [% péreoa ty ari. Probably it should be, % pérwea y avrh, “ and remaini the same.”’] i. e. She is the author ofall chin- ges and spiritual renovations, though “herséf remains unchangeable; ‘“ ‘Toujours immutaple en elle-méine, elle renouvelle toutes ¢hoscs” St Austin explains this renovation; and shews from whence it proceeds; ‘De plenitudine eyns accipiunt anime, ut beat sint, & parti- cipatione manentis in se Sapientia renbwanolf, ut Sapientes sint:” Confess. lib. vit! eg, The Scripture furnishes us with many! Iristatt ces of her good offices and kindness-to men {a this particular; all graces are ministeredtous by her, and she purifies the ‘soul to:nmidkertt fit to receive them ; she enlightensimen’s ut derstandings with the knowledg6 lof isdving truths, disposes and inelines their-wills tol vit: tuous and holy actions, and comforts:and ‘sp: ports them in the discharge of their duty: wndet the greatest difficulties and discouragement: And though her communications‘aresa:wittl ous, and, with respect to all ages ancbirpriany may .be considered as:infinite, yer Huf-natate continues unchangeable.’ What Plato!sayie%f Gitie. VIL God: with'a' very temarkable emphasis, is very applecable' “to her, ‘w8ercle, souk, wWouac, anaciatriy viepiar b8intlei.’ Platotin'Phed. | nee Abid. And in all ages entering into holy souls sho. maketh them-friends of God, and: prophets. | Kala: yereac, Which may be interpreted either of ages or nations; the ‘Vulgate takes it in the latter ‘sense. This observation is not only true of Abrahain, ‘see. note on ver. 14. and Moses, whom God favoured in an especial manner, and admitted to a more particular intimacy, Kxod. xxxili. 11. Philo De Mose, lib. i. but of David, whom God * took away from the sheep-folds, that he might feed Jacob his peo- ple and Israel his inheritance, Psal. Ixxvili. 71, 72. -The like may be said of Joseph, and the other instances of this truth, mentioned by this writer in the tenth and eleventh chapters ; from whose history it appears, that Divine wisdom, without any respect of persons, in every age and nation, makes choice of such as are well disposed, to confer her favours and blessings on, and sanctifies them, by her inha- bitation and presence, for her own great pur- poses. .True religion, indeed, seemed for some time as it were confined to Judzea, and the Jews to have been only entrusted with sacred truths ;: but yet we sometimes find the spirit of wisdom discovering herself to other people, and enlightening them amidst their ignorance and darkness. [tis more than probable, that God made uncommon discoveries of himself to Job, andthat, in proportion to the greatness of :his.sufferings, he was favoured with a greater degree of light,.and larger communications of divine knowledge; see Bishop Sherlock, Dis- sertat. 2. The like may be observed of Ba- laam, who, according to Scripture, “ heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the Most High, Numb. xxiv. 16. which implies some discovery of God’s will to him; and as a prophet, he foresaw and foretold what should happen in the latter end; and, particularly, has left a very remarkable prophecy relating to the Messiah. : We are sometimes surprised with uncommon. discoveries in the writings of the heathen iphilosophers 3 and the several important truths therein scattered, seemingly above the reach of mere unassisted reason, are enough to convince us, that.divine wisdom has communi- cated: itself in all:ages, andiconverséd with her favouritesiineavery: penevation, \‘As to-tlie gift of .prophécy: here: mentioned, -it is certain, that the qualifications that:did fit a:man for the pro- phetical spitit, which rerideredi him: Audilem ad THE BOOK OF WISDOM. gt prophetandum, were inward piety, true wisdom, probity, and virtue. The rabbins* universally agree in this, that the Spirit’of prophecy never rested but upon a wise and good man; and no instance, says Maimonides, More Nevoc. par. 2. can be mentioned of its ever dwelling in a vi- cious person, unless he had first reformed him- self ; and among the preparatory dispositions for obtaining it, he reckons the perfection of virtuous qualities or manners, a heart purified and free from sinful affections and sensual pas- sions. Hence we find, that anciently many were trained up in the way of school-discipline, and fitted by religious nurture to become Can- didati Prophetie ; see Smith’s Sel. Disc. on Prophecy, c. 8,9. And the several schools of education at Naioth, Jerusalem, Bethel, Jericho, Gilgal, were only so many colleges for disciplin- ing and training up young scholars in those pre- paratory qualifications which might more dis- pose them for the gift of prophecy. [Ver. 28. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom, ww ayarz 6 Od, &e. rather, wire, no man, which is confirmed by the following ray cuvoxevla, not 7d curomsy, as it ought to have been, if the author had written v4.) Ver. 29. For she is more beautiful than the sun—being compared with light, she is found be- Jore tt.] This is true of wisdom, considered as a divine attribute, in many respects: 1s¢, Be- cause the sun, the stars, and the whole system of inanimate bodies, are not fit to be opposed in value to the human mind or spirit; for the en- larged intellectual powers, and improved facul- ties of the mind, can arrive at the knowledge, and explain the glories of the firmament; where- as the sun, though a most glorious body, is ut- terly insensible, and has no consciousness’ of that light which he gives to others ; which pre- rogative of the mind, Tully finely remarks.: ‘‘ Nec vero illa parva vis est rationis, quod eoruni ipsorum, quz adspectu sentiuntur, nullum aliud animal pulchritudinem, venustatem, convenien- tiam partium sentit,” Cic. De Offic, lib. i. 2dly, As divine wisdom formed and fashioned the glorious body of the sun, it is not only prior to it, or ‘before it in point of time, which is thé sense of the Vulgate, but it must be, in the or- der of causes and effects; more beautiful and excellent than any, or all the creatures. Wa- tablus therefore renders. with great judgment, Luci'compurata, potior deprehendtur. 3dly, The sun cannot make that which is’ deformed or ugly to be beautiful, and his lighit is often hiurt- ful and injurious’to tender and diseased eves : ey 025 his bears are sopactimes too, buight tq-be borne,, they not only, dazzle and confguyd, but, fre~ quently hurt.and weaken the, sense. But aviss, dom never offends by its excess ; the brighter. and mare heavenly At is, the more she pleases ; and’ where she finds any more, defects or, 1m- perfections, she removes, or ‘amends them. Is the soul polluted and disfigured by. trespasses and sin? divine Wisdom purifies it, by the in- fysion of hey supernatural grace. Do any wan- der in darkness and error? she guides and _as- sists them by the brightness of her saving truths. Are. any sensible of. their sad estate,.and, really | desirous of a cure? she giveth medicine to heal their sickness. So that what was said by Tully of virtue, and has. been so justly applauded, is equally. applicable to the Spirit of wisdom, “That could we behold all her charms, the whole world would be. infinitely in love with her.” Cie. OF, i, . Ver. 30. For after this cometh night.] That wisdoin does thus exceed the light, is manifest from.this further argument, because night con- stantly: succeeds the day, and therefore .the light is as constantly interrupted by darkness, But divine wisdom admits of no such priva- tions or inequalities ; it has no mixture of light and darkness, of, good and evil, but is always the same, ‘+ yesterday, to-day, and,for ever.” St_ Austin reasons in like manner, upon the transitoriness of worldly things ; ‘* Omnis iste ordo pulcherrimus rerum valdé bonarum, modis SUls peractis transiturusest, mane quippe in eis factum est & vespera:” Contess, lib. xiii. ¢. 3$.. But St. Chrysostom comes. nearest this writer, and has the very same thonght applied to grace ; ¥x rae noo mos tsi naumpic, x. t.a. * Non si¢ mundus clarus est oriente sole, ut anima il- lustratur & spendidior fit, & Spiritu gratiam recipiens: Hanc nempe lucem, & volentibus nobis & nolentibus, nox subsequitur,” (zé70 uty ® Ualjatlas w¥, which are the very words of our cuthoy) ‘illum veid radium tenebre non ndé- rant;” Homil. 21. ad Pop. Antioch. Ibid, But vice shalt not prevail against wis- «ong. ], [Sopiag 3 wx, vl xues, naxia. Probably the true reading of the.Greek here is, sop/ar 83 ¥ xa- fio xyes, xenig,.as x.-L]. and elsewhere.] If we ate tend only to what passes ordinarily in this life, uys observation may perhaps seem not to be witogether just or well grounded, for human wisdoin, or that which God is pleased to com- “aunicate to mankind,.is subject to many frail- ties;,as ‘the bewitching. ot navghtiness?’ will enscure men’s reason, seuthe. wandering, of. mec S § o THE, BOOK,OF. WISDOM. | Cuar/ VINO concupiscence. quite ip¢erverts and, unilerminesi it, chap. iv. 12. Such as.have,beew admiredséns all other instances for theirn,wisdem, have been; hurried away by sinful-passions ; aud the-finest/ understanding has been found a‘ weak: fonee. against a criminal passion. Solomon:hiniself, is a lamentable instance of this truth, who fall: shamefully, notwithstanding his singular: acs complishments ; and his wisdom served only to: heighten his transgression and disgrace. We: must understand this writer therefore of divine: wisdom, which sin cannot approach, norits. contagion sully, much less can the power-of {its prevail over her. Grotius understands ‘this: place of adversity, and refers to Matth. vi. 94): where xax‘a, the term here used, is taken in that: sense. According to this acceptation the op.: position is no less just and beautiful, for-as- prosperity is the sunshine of fortune, so adver! sity may be considered as its shade. In thig: view, the meaning is, that however dark thei. cloud may be, which hangs over a good many’ yet shall it not overwhelm him ; though misery: be his lot, as it is too often the fate of good-1 ness, yet shall it not get the better of him: “* We are troubled on every side,” says St.Paul; ? speaking of himself and other suffering Chrts-! tians, “ yet not distressed ; we are perplexed; but not in despair ; persecuted, but not-for-: saken ; cast down, but not destroyed ;” 2 Cor, iv. 8,9. And even in such a sad catastrophe,’- when vice is so triumphant and successful as” to destroy a good and virtuous man, yet if’ weé take in the consideration of another. life, the'! righteous, however afflicted or tormented, will be found to have come off conqueror. CH AP. Vilt Tus ArcuMENT.—The praise of wisdom.is Cony, tinued, which, upon a comparison of the most,j desirable things in life, is shewn to be prefers,s able to them ; and-from an induction of several.) valuable and weighty particulars, she appears. to be the proturer of such great advantages, + and ought therefore to be hunoured and followe,: ed after by such as have the greatest regards, to their own happiness. The chapter cops, cludes with the proper dispositions to obtain, . wisdom. atl Ver. 1. Wisdom reacheth Jrom ane end to a- nother mightily, and sweetly doth she: orderal™ tlings.| i. e. The divine wisdom is infinite and? immense, .extends itself throughout the whole’\! world, and does every thing in it mightily; thats4 v CGaapé VILEW iswefectually, in respect:of the endyand sweetly, thatiis, without-enyviolence:or difficulty; in:the: se of the means.., Tnisiis the sense of the Ara. bie version: “ Porrigit. autem:sese, ab extremo tenfarum..orbe..ad. extremum usque integré:” Sc: Bernard :expounds it in the.same manner; Attingit.a fine usque ad finem, i. e. 4 summo colo usque ad inferiores partes terra ; 4 maximo angelo. usqueiad minimum vermiculum, substan- tiali quadam. & ubique presenti fortitudine, que utique universa potentissime movet, ordinat, &:administrat suaviter, 1. e. sine necessitate aut: difficultate :” Bern. Lib. de Grat. & Lib. Arbitr, See also Fulgentius de Persona Christi, lib. ii. But by sweetly, we may further understand the manner.in which the divine wisdom works upon men’s sminds ; for she begins.the great work of salvation :in men’s hearts, by over-ruling them through her motions and inypressions, inclining them to their. duty, and assisting them in the performance of it; and at length, having hap- pily perfected it, sheconducts them to glory and a-blessed-end of their labours. But though she reaches from.one end to the other of this impor- tant event, and acts powerfully upon the soul to bring.it to pass; yet she does it sweetly, and without any: violence or incensistence with men’s free agency ; she encourages them by all the: endearing methods, and in the most engag- ing.manner, to their duty; and by this amiable mixture of sweetness, tempers and softens the yoke, which would ctherwise be complained of as:hard and rigorous.—Some have understood these words of God’s fore-knowledge, that his prescience -reacheth to the ends of the world, and by it he foresaw from all eternity all future events, even to the consummiation of all things ; so that when the whole mystery of God’s dis- pensations shall be finished and unravelled, it will appear, that nothing is contained in them but what God had formerly foretold and declar- ed by his prophets. (See Louth’s Preface to his Comments.) And to this purpose he applies what Isaiah says of God’s foreknowledge, chap. xlvi-.to. that “ he declares the end from the eginning ;” an expression, it must be owned, not very unlike that of this writer. 1 shall only observe further, that this verse in some copies ‘is made the conclusion of the former chapter. Ver. 3. In that she is conversant with God, she magnifieth. her, nobility.) This is but indiffe- rently expressed-; it would be better rendered literally thus: ‘herein she displays her high birth, that she exists, with God, and is inti-. THE BOOK OF WISDOM. mately united! to himi” “ Efe fait: voir la: gloire de son origine,-en ce qu’elle est étroite-' ment unie 4 Dieu,” says Calmet. Vatablus: very properly- renders, ‘“* Nobilitatem generis ejus hoc illustrat, quod convictu Dei utitur ;” oupbiarw Ow exvce, whicly is imperfectiy rendered: in our version, phrase is now commonly understood, for it im- plies much move, viz. that wisdom, as a divine attribute (for 1 would understand the place of this principally) is intimately united with Gad, lives always in and with him, and is insepar- able from him, as his spouse and partner; and 93: conversant with God, as that - thus cupSiws is used ver. 9. (sce more in that” note.) Nor is it better expressed in the Vul- gate by contubernium. The Syriac version uses consortiwn; but those interpreters, as if they were sensible of some defect, and tiat they had net reached the force of the original, add immediately after, by way of explanation, * Quoniam Deus est pater ejus.” Philo, in his allegorical way, explains the ‘nearness of this relation between God.and wisdom ; his words are a close and excellent comment upon this place, zor yay ride ro way tpfadautvoy Snurepyov oue % walipn ewar re yeloveres; penlépa Mt xiv te weromndros imshuny, 4 cuvar d Orig -tomeage yirveow, Phil. De Ebriet. &-alibi. In a lower sense we may un- derstand this passage of human or derivative’ wisdom, that this likewise shews her great worth and singular excellence, in that God him- self vouchsafes to communicate himself to, and' | converse with, a truly wise soul, not in dreams: by night, as with Joseph; not by an audible voice, as with St Paul; but with the still small, voice, speaking to the soul, in breathings not to be uttered. Ibid.- She magnifies (her) nobility. senses above given of this passage, that of Gro- tius is worthy notice, viz. “ Nobilitatem ho-’ To the. minis decorat,” *‘* wisdom adorns high birth.” | There is nothing to answer (her) in the original. - Ver, 4. Shezs privy to the mysteries ‘of God.} The marginal reading is, teacher, which agrees with the Vulgate, “ Doctrix enim est discip- linwe Dei,” and with Musis éaishunein the Greek ;° for Mus is a technical term, and, according to: Budeeus, signifies an interpreter of sacred: my- steries; the sense here is, that divine wisdom can best teach the knowledge of God, reveal its mysteries, and initiate men into them, as know- -ing:the deep things of God, and being in his -bosom, cannot but be privy to them. the Syriac happily renders, “*Ipsa est 4 secretis,’ Dei, & 4 consiliis ejus.” And 60° 94 nip And, afover-of his works.}, Aiggicy with: whish agrees..the marginal. reading; and, the; Vulgate renders in like, manner, “ Electrix open rum.ejus,”"—chooser of his works. Dr..Grabe and Budaus read serie. According to: either. reading the sense scems to be, that, the divine wisdom designed, contrived,. and appointed: God’s works, .as is declared more explicitly in the two following verses. Calmet understands it in a more-extensive sense, of wisdom’s -su-. perintendency and direction of his works, * qui est la directrice de ses ouvrages.”” The Syriac and Arabic versions understand this passage of -wisdoin in the most exalted sense ; the former reads, “ Gloria cunctorum ojerum ejus,” and. the latter, “* Sublimior dignitate cunctis ope- rrbus ejus.” [Perhaps vzgir«, ministra, may be the.true reading. See x. 9.] Ver. 5. What is richer than wisdom,. which worketh all things ?].“« Sapientia omnium rerum, artifice,” according to the Arabic; and the Syriac renders, “ Quandoquidem ipsa fecit omnia.” [The argument, seemingly, would have been more regular, had the author written, which possesseth all things :, for, her working all , things does not seem to be so great a. proof of riches, as.of power or skill. See, however, ver. 18,. where this is somewhat explained, in the works, of her hands are infinité riches.] But the meaning probably here is, that skill and wisdom make men successful and thriving in every bu- siness and, calling, and are the most likely means to procure men reputation and a good fortune. Riches and honour are with wisdom, says the true Solomon, Prov. viii. 18. who could confirm this truth from ‘his own plentiful experience. of both, which God annexed to his gift of wisdom. But we must observe at the same time of wis- dom, that, she teaches men rather the contempt, than an immoderate and eager pursuit of riches ; to becontent with a little, and to esteem spiri- tual attainments, and the improvements of the soul, as their chiefest good, their truest riches. Ver. 6. And if prudence work.) Ei 8: ppémec épyatdas,.¢.e. If skill and industry produce the most admired works of art, who is so justly to be esteemed the author of them, as wisdom, the most accomplished, and I may add, universal artist? and is therefore, with great propriety, called, wailoy Tixvinis copie, ch. fe ee Gen she presides over every instance of science, directs, and perfects it. “Instead “of ipydfdas, which, js the ‘common reading, and followed by gur tran- slators, Dr'Gtabe reads tgatdlar, ‘as more apree. ablé ‘to what goes before and follows after, THE BOOK OF IWISIROM. VIZ. w, Ca¥. Wiii)) dy matnen derlyeerdy Kise meter 53 wis Seneca hepe:i ey eaige TH, MEL. irises | oreawarei ef wéconie+y. 2 Reda: pressions all.equivalent: to épi(daz,;See Prolegyihh*: c. 4 | dn. the: midstrbf-thesehe thinks itcomep in very, properly.“ And-if prodence is adumired) | and Joved,;’’: the .only, objection s with 2+imySyy}i: that épadeles isch »poetical word, which’ wilbliaa deed have but little weight, if what that tedrned: critic seems to insinuate be true, thet the: Bool. of Wisdom was originally wrote: in. metred Tt is certain, he has placed it among : the -metrica}: books, and in the Alexandrian MS it::preserweg: the appearance of .verse, as well as the:booloéft Psalms, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, i&et Calmet also is of opinion, that it .was-wrotelig metre ; see. his Dictionary in voce. Wisdamn However the learned may determine about:thigs: nicety, still Lam of opinion, that.ép/addJas iis! poke only the trug,- but the better reading ;. for, ppianigy: without if,.is too general, and:may:be appliedy to any thing else as well as work, andofdrwanmy of, it the beauty of the next sentencerisiilobsis The same words very nearly occur: togethenn ch. vii. 16. See Note on that :placex andbarw. Exod. xxxi. where works of, different-sortssdeus mentioned, épyz(Ja, is the term used oftenaipund: the occasion. [ Perhaps it:should: be knggsadbs tpJacrwy (scil. ésiy) txbuunlir xIiua, frond. thelforgai going verse, ric avic, Sc. -But.ifeskillcin seodlon manship be a thing to be desired,: whop&mb. So vil. 16. waa re pcre % tplansaticimshpase which seems to confirm this conjecture.}iimbgdsimi relates here to practical knowledge, the mentions of speculative follows, ver. 8.27... bas .bstsq Ibid. Who of all that are, is a-moracunaingd workman than she 2] Tic avri¢ ror :byhuns warrér rexvirne ; the ancient Vulgate: reads,:"! Quisshotuy , um, quz sunt, magis quam, ;illa, estiartifex 2%) which can neither relate to persons norithibgs)): as different interpreters have understaabqthili; place; not to the former, .as'-oun i versiomtakesi! it, for then the reading should. be:4¢'Quis: borhnee qui sunt, &e.” not to .the latter, -as;Covendalelpl version and the Geneva Bible. have it:s\forthem2: it should be, * Ecquid horum..quae cunt, Sea} | or something to that effect,and; im tid Gioekoy T/ ray éiwv, as in. the verse foregoing it isyTt/aupiatot warxawrepor.. L think, therefore; sthelsensenfahdT .Place has hitherto been mistakebyand:thhu deen true rendering of it, as it stands, connected hrithed: the context, is, * If wisdemiisiso: goodd sbrligtm as to watk all, things, whe.chas ja‘ibatterocagnjd! oF, is MATE, likely, to, be,.the smaker, vor. wlaxp OE as more agtee-. all things existing’, this sense thediery plow! and structure,of the ? Greek -poinks.omtoralus itll: Cuar. Vill. is. likewise the. meaning..of the Vulgate: quoted above, and: ‘probably -of= Junius, who tenders,’ + Quis'eotum que in, natura sunt, artifex-potius. est.quam ipsa?” Messieurs Du Port Royal un- derstands it. of wisdom, as being the supreme directress and architect, by whom all things were made, ** Qui a plus:de part qu’elle dans cet art, avec lequel toutes choses -ont esté faites?” See Rom. iv. 17.: Ver. 7. Ifa man love righteousness, her labours are virtues.| This is obscurely expressed: the meaning ‘is,.that wisdom produces the several following virtues, or that they are her work; for the very end’ and scope of wisdom is, to make men just and virtuous, considerate and resigned ; and that which does not propose this as its object, may be looked upon as curio- sity, folly, or vanity. The pursuit therefore of wisdom, necessarily leads to the four cardinal virtues, as they are distinguished, which com- pose righteousness, considered in its largest sense ; and the following virtues, or graces, are so ma- ny: branches of it: for temperance teaches men moderation, and a restrained use’ of pleasures and the good things of the world ; fortitude, how to bear and behave under the evils and afflictions of it; prudence is employed in find- ing out and making use of proper ways and means ; and justice, im a fair and impartial ren- dering to all their due. Philo has exactly the same thought and distinction, expressed. only in his allegorical way, upon Gen. ii. 10.“ A river went out of Eden, and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads:” which he thus allegorizes, “ Fluvius est virtus gene- ralis, quatuor autem derivationes sunt totidem virtutes ex Edene, id est sapientia Dei, effluen- tes; nimirum, Prudentia, ‘T‘emperantia, Fortitu- do, Justitia. .Prudentia cirea agenda, terminos illis ponens ; fortitudo sustinendo ;. Temperan- tia eligendo; ‘Justitia.suum cuique tribuendo :” SS. Legum Allegoriarum, lib. i. Which are the four species here enumerated, arising from one common fountain-head, viz. righteousness. [Avxasouiy here signifies all moral virtues ip general: but in this same verse, Sxasovva is put for justice, a species—of what? of Smansir. This.is certainly very inaccurate. The Author might have avoided this, if instead of Sixesovy, he had ‘put ‘zac. adap. The end of. the verse might be better'translated thus, “ There is no- thing:more‘useful to’ men. in-life than these.’ Ver. 8. If. amun-desive much experience. Theavrepiay. «The: Vulgate render more justly, Multitudinem scientie, to which. Coverdale’s “THE ‘BOOK OF WISDOM. ' Wer..11, shall be found of quick conceit, and 95 version agrees, ‘*Tf'a man desyre much know- ledge :” The-Syriac:is to the same effect, “* Si quisitem enpiat admodum esse perttus,” which Vatablus also favours. ‘The word experience seems here improper and disagreeable to what follows ; for experience cannot possibly relate to what is to' come, nor foresee any’ future e- vents; but wisdom can prognosticate what shall happen, can foresee the change of weather, and foretel eclipses of the sun and moon, which are called here signs and wonders : For ancient- ly such discoveries were extremely rare, and the ignorance of the people was so great, that they ‘looked upon snch phanomena as prodigies, Plutarch remarks, that ‘* Anaxagoras, and such as first discovered and explained the cause of them, durst not speak in public, for fear of being thorght atheists or magicians, but in- structed their disciples in the reason of them pri- vately, and by word of mouth, without commit- ting their observationsto writing.” Invit. Niciz. [{bid. Eixeer In this verse, and’ch. ix. 16. The verb exafo is translated to guess aright, from what authority it does not appear: For exalw of itself no more signifies to guess aright, than to guess wrong. Eixdlar wands is to guess aright, as in the noted verse of Euripides, Mar. Ii cpiso¢ os eater arog and in Thucydides concerning Pericles, tay ueaadyloy apisec cmasig.] Ver. 9. I purposed to take her to live with me.] "Expire ravrny ayayerSou a poe oupbiocw. ** | purpos- ed to take her.to be my partner for life, to be my spouse,” as is expressed, ver. 2. For [ understand ayayicSe: in both places to refer to the marriage ceremony. of leading the bride to . the bridegroom’s- house. What follows-seems | to confirm this acceptation, for she was to be _ to-him his bosom-counsellor, ‘* bona daturam . consilia,” says Vatablus, one that would faith- fully advise him in all difficulties, comfort him tenderly in all afflictions, and kindly divide his cares and griefs with him;.which is the des- cription of a happy marriage. The. reading of all the copies is, aapatreas pperrider, possibly wagawirig may be the true reading agreeably to pus, cipetic, cvuCwace, which go just before, ad. hortatrix.. Ver, 9. A: counsellor of ' good things.] -oiuberse, ayetor. The opposite part. of the sentence, a ** comfort or an encourager in cares and griefs,” shews that eyalor here means in prosperity. shall be. admired in. the sight of great men.] This was eminently true.ofthe real Solomon, as apy . pears by that distinguishing judgment which 96 he shewed in the case of: the: two contending ‘harlots, when hy a nice decision he brought-to light what artifice and dissiinulation -had con- ecaled, and artfully found a way to come at even the bottom of the heart, and to unravel its most secret intentions ; for by an appear- -ance of severity only, without any violence to the parent or the child, nature herself at once declared, by the motions and sentiments of either tenderness or indifference, which were then visible without disguise, which was the counterfeit, and which the real mother; upon which the text adds, ‘ that all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had-judged ; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was tn him, to do judgment,” 1 Kings ih. 28. ~ Ver. 12. If Ital much, they shall lay their hands upon their mouth.) It is a proverbial ex- pression, arid implies silence: See the like, ceclus. vy. 12.'Prov. xxx. 52. The poet well expresses it, ‘“ Digito compesce-labellum.”” Ac- cordingly Harpocrates, by the ancients feign- ed to be the god of silence is pictured with his finger on his mouth, to recommend, ' by this expressive gesture, either a well-timed silence, or at. least a discreet government of the:tongue. See Stephan. Dict. Histor..in voce. Ver. 15. I shall. be fousid good among the multi- tude and valiant ia war.] We have here the two es- sential qualities to constitute a complete prince, goodness in the care and management of his own people, and valour to head them in any wailiie expedition against others. Alexander the Great is said to have studied much, and repeated often that fine maxim of Homer, which the expression of this writer very much re- sembles, and is worthy indeed of the true.So- Jomon : *AuPortgor, Bacirtus's” aynbes, xgellegis T ainurlte. Virgil has happily expressed the same thought in the following line-; Parcere subjectis, &9 debellare superbos : Where both those celebrated poets agree with our.author, in making the excellence of a king consist in goodness and clemency to. his own subjects, and in martial courage to reduce an insulting enemy; in being amiable to the one, and terrible to the other. So that even ac- cording to the notions of Paganism, a prince THE “BOOK OF WUSHOM. will repose.’? limitation sof the titlc of, thes ods, to. placéibhe ehdracter of very:godd,' before:very gneutp todr optimus marimus, like !\dupiter, rfrom what derives his power. | Seneea ‘lias :ancubservation to the sainé purpose, ‘“ Proximum: Diisttoogn ‘tenet, qui s¢ ex. Deorum natura: gerit’;shooaft fectare, hoc imitari decet, maximum ‘sta’ haber, ut optimus simul habeare :” ‘Senec. ‘libs isDe Clem. c. 19. - But upon the com parison;'y prince ought to prefer the .amiable“nawné of Pater.Pairia, or father of his country, toad] the pompous.titles and appeliations which ‘vie tory and triumph can heap upon him, :d#dé not so much:to aim: at his own glory, ‘or enlargement of his dominions through aii tion, as to protect his subjects, and labourde make them happy; For’ the. trophies of evetit successful war are not s0 mucit .to be covets, as the blessings of a settled. peace ; norte conquest of foreign nations, as the. love,. presef- ‘vation, and good order of his own people! 2°74 Ver. 16. After I am come into ‘my er ‘Better thus, ** [ will go into mine house}: 1 oe gbuug Ver. 13. In the works of her ‘hands ara ‘tnfiiite riches.| TEav roe avexarmig, 1. e. Riches whieh’ ate durable, and-fade not away. Vatablus renders accordingly, perennes divitias, and -the Val is to the same effect. Calmet are pelt ‘of riches, ** Qui ne manquent jamais.” And this is the true rendering, appeats frorf) the like expression upon the same subject, ch.vtt. ‘14, where wisdom is called Snoavpac dixie, ‘which our translators rightly there render; *™ treasure that never faileth.” The -exptessi6tt, in our version, seems rather to denote'the git: tity, than the quality of the riches, and s&{t'ts. commonly understood. The sense of the yy sage is, that true wisdom, which is from above, and makes us wise unto salvation, will procute for us riches which fade not away, topertér with that glory, satisfaction, ‘and -plessate, which preferment, honour, and wealth, the te wards of other studies, are only faint resem- blances of. For suéh is the excellency ‘of Mi- vine knowledge, that it will not only forwatd our admission into’ heaven, but accompan A thither : ‘St Jerom therefore wel advises, “ i camus in terris, quorum nobis scientia, pene veret inccelo.” “Epist. ad Paulin. eat [Ibid. Great pleasure, ‘Téplic dyabi, poold or prd- is only so far great, as he is tender and careful‘ fitable deight, not hurtful, as most other #e:.: of his subjects; nor should he think of his lights commonly are. power but with a view to do good, and, in Tépyis ctyaty is Horate’s tile dulci.| - oid Cuar. VIII. ; Ver. 19. For 2 was a witty child, and hada good spirit.) Make nw eiguic, duyie re trayor ayabic, Evgufz answers to bona indoles, and in Junius’s version is properly expressed by it, i. e. 1 was naturally well disposed towards wisdom, and of a good capacity, had a quicknes of parts, and readiness of apprehension, and a sou! more susceptible of instruction than many others, and superior to them in its natural talents and endowments. That all souls are not eqria! as to their disposition, nor equally capable of, or inclined to wisdom, is the sentiment of most writers, particularly St Austin says, “ Alii farat, alii tardissimi ingenii, & ad intelligendum quo- dammodo plumbei, alii obliviosi, alii acuti Inemoresque nascuntur, alii utroque munere priediti:?? Aug. lib. iv. cont. Jul cog. Bat I rather chuse to understand this of moral dispo- sitions, and of the inclination of the soul to goodness. But Philo’s notion comes nearest our author, ‘* Who acknowledges two sorts or spe- cies of souls, placed in the air; that some al- ways continue there, and cthers descend into and inhabit bodies ; of the fatter, some apply themselves to sublime and useful knowledge, which, even after the death of the body, they continue to pursue, to purchase a life incor- ruptible and eternal ; ‘but others, overwhelmed by the weight of the flesh, neglect the care and study of wisdom, are intent upoa riches and va- nity, and attached wholly to things sensible and corporeat.” De Gizantibus. Our author mentions it as his good luck and fortune to have a soul well inclined, and of the better sort, with the additional happiness of its being joined to a body pure and undefiled. 1 say good fortune, for the learned father above ob- serves upon tary, which the Vulgate renders scrtitus sum, that ** it intimates, that he receiv- ed his good spirit, or disposition as it were by accident, by the free donation and undeserved bounty of God's goodness, to excinde and guard against the least surmise of any precedent me- rit, dd auferendam suspicionem precedentium me- ritorum sortis nomen accersit.” De Gen, ad Lit. lib. x.c. 18. How justly this remark is ground- ed, and whether this writer intended such a sense, the learned will determine. (ibid. For Iwas a witly child —But, or now— Riv] This and the following verse should be put in’a parenthesis. ~ Ver..20. Yea, rather being good, I came into a body undefiled.| This sentence seems to favour the opinion of a pre-existence of souls. It was a notion of the Pythagoreans and Flatonists, of THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 97 the Jewish doctors and Rabbinical wiiters, and after them entertained by Origen, and some o- ther Christian writers, that all souls were created by God at-the beginning of the world out of no- thing, and were reserved and deposited in some of the heavenly regions ; that, according to their good or ill behaviour in the state and region a- bove, aniecedeut lo their being incorporated with mortal and earthly vehicles, they were after- wards, as infinite wisdom saw occasion, sent down into bodies ready fitted for, and properly disposed to receive them, and were accordingly lodged here below, either in sickly or healthful, in vicious or wWell-inclined bodies. ‘This notion, that souls pre-existed and descended into suit- able bedies, was the opinion of the Pharisees particularly, which they are thought to have borrowed from the Platonists, Joseph. de Bell. Jud. lib. ii. c. 12. Philo, who upon all occa- sions speaks the sentiments of the ancient Jews, fayours this notion in many places ; ‘* De Con- fus. Linguarum, De Gigantibus, De Abraham ;’" but he is most express in the following passage, Tetav Toy Luxor, ai wiv xatlasi ede lag iecsvece veuxat Snilei¢, tous wporfeairala: 2 ginoraucros # ian rum alice descendunt illigandz corporibus mor- ‘talibus, quotquot viciniores Sunt terre, aman- tioresque corporum.” De Somniis. To this no- tion, that question of our Saviour’s disciples is generally thought to allude, John ix, 2. “ Did this man sin, or his parents, that he was born blind??? And some have interpreted to the same sense araaven, Philip, i, 23. and é xaspis Tig tung avarvoiws, 2 Tim. iv. 6. But ayanvorts, even though we shonld understand it in these and other places where it occurs, in the sense of veturn, rather than departure, does not countenance the notion ofa pre-exisience, as it is commonly understood. I is further object- edi against this passage, that it is inconsistent with the doctrine of original sin; for we can- not suppose the body of any descendant of Adam to be pure, untainted, or undefiled, as is here asserted, nor any soul to enter into an eartiry vehicle that is entirely clean and per- fect, and altogether free trom any original lea- ven: Nemo mundus @ peccato, says St Austin, nec infuns, cujus est unus diet vita super terram, Confess. lib. t.c. 7. In the Belgie version, the. translators, in their preface prefixed to the A- pocry pha, single out this passage as exception. able on this account, Liinboréh. Yheol, Christ. lib. i. c. 3. To obviate this objection, founded upon a truth which we must all own, and do sensibly experience, as eng equally sec 98 by nature sinners, and children of: wrath, Cal- met observes, that this writer is not to be un- derstood as speaking of a body absolutely pure and undefiled, and entirely free from any he- reditary infection, but of a body less corrupt and less disposed to evil than many others, Moins corrumpu & moins porté au mal que beau- coup @ autres. Comment. in loc. But the justness of this solution itself will perhaps be disputed ; and it may probably be questioned, whether a body less vicious, or less subject to human corruptions, can, with any more pro- pricty, be said to be both pure and undehled, than a body can be said to be chaste that is less unclean, or sound and healthful that is less infirm and sickly. Lyrannus, and some other commentators, have attempted another interpre- tation of the place to the following sense, ‘* En- creasing more and more in virtue and goodness, I came to have a body chaste and undefiled,” which is founded upen the rendering of the Vulgate, ‘* Et cum essem magis bonus veni ad corpus incoinquinatum ;” 7. e. says Tirinus, ** Cum magis magisque per virtutum exercitium crescerem 1n bonitate, eo deveni ut etiam cor- pus mibi essct .bene temperatum, mundum, 8 -castum:”?? Comment. in loc. And even Messieurs du Port Royal take it in the same sense, ‘* Devenant bon de plus en plus.” But neither does this remedy seem quite to heal the sore ; for the true rendering of the Greek, yaa- aor Si ayaSic dy, is not ** cum essem magis bo- nus,’ but literally, ** magis vero,” or rather, ‘¢ imo vere cum essem bonus ;” so that magis is transposed in the Vulgate, either designedly or by accident: Nor is paarc dyxbic the usual comparative way of expression among the Greeks, but eyewor, or Beatiey, as in the La- tin-tongue, we do not usually say magis bonus, but melior, or emendutior : Nor does faSor ee oa- wa aufoler sionify, ‘* Ll came at length to have a body undefiled,” but, ** 1 entered into a body at first undefiled.”.. Upon the whole, as the expressions here seem to favour a pre-existence, and this writer labours as it were to establish that notion, using an iwariebsre or a rhetorical correction of limself, as if he had said too lit- tle, in the words \uyis taayor cyabic; as the Syriac and Arabic versions both understand and render this passage In a sense rather favour- ing the notion of a pre-existence ; the former very expressly, ‘ Propter boniiatem meam veni in- corpus purum ;” and the latter, * Imo bo- nus cram, tdeoque immaculatus ingressus sam in corpus;” and lastly, as the solutions offered THE BOOK, OF WISDOM. Cyar. XR to,evade the objections urged against this Pace, seem, weak and unsatisfactoryy [ must,inggay ously acknowledge, that it seems to.me toi fas vour of Platonism ; nor is,it improbable that this writer, who was undoubtedly.a Jemjp ites ceived.a tincture in this and some. other ingtag, ces to be met with in this book, from, the, pga, vailing notions among his eupatiyiagpecuee however is certain, that whether . we, under stand this verse of a body absolutely and,ppie ginally chaste and undefiled, free trom,all,taint of original sin ; or of one subject to its. frailties, lusts, and corruptions, but subdued.and, freed from the power and dominion of. them. by tem, perance, prayer, and religious exercises,,,jia either respect we cannot well understand.or apply this to the trae Solomon, whose purity more especially cannot be mentioned, to-,his honour. ratty gel [Ibid. Being good.] dyabis dv. The, authar speaks of the soul here in the same genderyas,if it were the whole person, according to that, of Cicefo in Somn. Scip. mens cujusque is.,.¢g quisque. Strictly speaking, he should, dave written, aya0i You (4 puxh) naber ec capa, .cgssarler The difficulty of this passage, which is thought to be insuperable as the context stands AL-DIASG At, is removed by the change of a single leyes, nrbor ag cone auarfoc ; or rather, being good,.{in,my pre-existent state,) I came undefiled. into} a Pads And that euiarlo¢ was formerly in some copies is certain, because the Arabic version has,;,(.Jm- maculatus ingressus sum in Corpus 5”. ¢piqyles” probably was changed into casarlor, to, make, it agree with the neuter cdue.] bic, tandiieln Ver. 21. Nevertheless, when I perceived that I could not otherwise obtain her.] Uric 8 brisx @ppt tooucts leparic, which the Vulgate renders, ya Ut scivi quoniam aliter non possem esse, cone tinens, nisi Deus det, adii Dominum ;”—And knowing that the gift of continency was, from God, and that his grace could alone preserve me chaste, I prayed unto him; which Goverdale follows in his version, “ When I perceayed that I coulde not kepe myself chaste,”, &c.,,,,.Phe Syriac also takes the words in. the, same .,seyse, “ Sciens quod non possi me. ipsum, ,domage 3” and St Austin, Confess. lib. x. c., 31. »[t is gute prising that an interpretation, which is, by ne means agreeable to the context, and, founded probably upon.a mistake, should be, supported by so great authorities ; for, it.seems ta, ihaye taken its rise from a, misunderstanding, ofthe meaning of the Greek word Uxparyc, which -gigr nifles both continens and.compos; but,dhe latter Onar. VHI. ‘THE BOOK sense, which is followed by our translators, the Arabic version, Vatablus, and the Geneva Bible, is far preferable, as will appear, if we inciude the’ 19th’ and 2oth verses in a parenthesis, as indeed they ought to be; and then the true sense of this passage will be clearer, and the con- nection more-visible ; for the meaning will then plainly be, “‘ I went about seeking wisdom, to “take herto me, and I, when I found that I * could not otherwise obtain wisdom, ** Me non “ aliter fore compotem illius, nisi Deus dederit,” says Junius, “ I prayed unto the Lord for it.” There is. the same mistake in the Vulgate, and upon the very same occasion, Ecclus. vi. 27. where etn patlii¢ yevouevos, iN the Vulgate, continens factus, is much more justly rendered in our version, “ When thou hast got hold of her (wisdom) let her not go,” in the sense which the context necessarily requires. Vatablus and Junius expound the place in the same manner ; the latter expressly renders, ‘' Compos factus, eam ne dimittito.” See also Ecclus. xv. 1. where there is the ike mistake in the Vulgate. Ibid. Except Gud gave her me.] Wisdom, which is here meant, and not the gift of. con- tinency, (see the Note above,) like other good and perfect gifts, is “ from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,” James i. 17; It is a pretty observation which Bishop Sander- son makes on these words, and very applicable, “ That’ those perfections and virtues which the ‘‘ heathen moralists call cee, or habits, the a- “ postle by a far better name calls §ccac, or gifts, “ to intimate. to us how we came by them, and “ whom we ought to.thank for. them.” Serm. 3. ad Clerum. And. the same inspired writer has a-more patticular. direction. as to the: very point before-us, “‘ If any.man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and it shall be given him,” ch.i. 5. The in- genious Mr Cowley observes of. Virgil, “« That ‘s his first wish was.to be.a. good philosopher ; * and that God, whom he seemed to under-. “ stand better.than most of the learned heathens, * dealt with him just as he did with. Solomon ; ‘because. he- prayed for wisdom.in the first * place, he added all things else. which were ““ subordinately to be desired.” See Martyn’s Georgicks, lib. ii. p. 198. ibid. I prayed unto the Lord, and besought him.) To apply to God for the. gift of wisdom, who has the sole disposal of it, was not only.an.in-. stance of it, but-a sure and infallible way of ob- taining it. Philo has a fine observation upon God’s disposal of his gifts and graces, Ai ray yapirur a # fi me be ~ HP? , > W nngk hen KYUTS BDyias HEYY Or, vs Was § CAVEMEN AS, AAAG MOres ARET AU, atte OF WISDOM. 99 The efficacy of prayer was what the heathens themselves greatly depended upon in most ot their great undertakings. It has been observed by critics, that Homer hardly ever makes his heroes succced, unless they have first offered 2 prayer to heaven; whether they engage in war, go upon an cmbassy, undertake a voyage, or whatever they enterprize, they almost always supplicate some god; and whenever we find this omitted, we may expect some adversity to befal them in the course of the story. We must likewise mention it to their honour, that they prayed to, and thanked the gods for the advantages af riches, honour, and health; but I cannot find that the heathens ever acknow- ledged God for the author and giver of wisdom, or indeed of any. virtue.. Thus Cotta in Tully, “Num quis, quod vir bonus esset, gratias diis. egit unquam? Jovemque Optimum Maximum appellant, non quod.nos Justos, Temperatos, Sapientes efficiat, sed quod salvos, incolumes, opulentos,-copiosos. Neque Herculi quisquam decimas yovit unquam, si Sapiens factus esset :” De Natura Deor. lib. iii. How much finer is. this writer’s description of: wisdom than that of a conceited Stoick; and how much more deser-. vedly is he to be admired for: referring wisdom so justly to its true original, and acquainting us with its divine extraction? Herein our author agrees with the Scripture account of the original of wisdom, which assures us, that it is he who “giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not,” and “ commanded the light to shine out of darkness,” that must, in this case more par~ ticularly, “ shine in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.” I shall shut up this chapter with an apposite and fine reflexion of ‘Messieurs du Port Royal, in. their comment upon this place: ‘ Happy -are those “that have this knowledge, that wisdom and ‘all perfection come from God, which may be “called the knowledge of the truly humble.— “They know all things, because they are per- “ suaded and sensible that they know nothing ; “they can do all things, because they are con- “vinced that of themselves they can do no- “thing, We ought therefore to put up ofien “to God that excellent prayer of St Austin’s, “not very unlike the beginning of this, “ Da “ mihi, Domine, gratiam tuam, qua potens est “ omnis infirmus qui sibi per illam conscius sit “ infirmitatis sue,” CHA WR. i. THe ArcumMent.—The author's prayer for wis dom is set down, wherein is shewn particular Q 9 100 ty how necessary the gift: of wisdom is to en- able kines-and rulers to discharge: their high “1 offive with sufficiency and credit. The* prayer itself is so like that of the real Solomon, 1 \. Kings iii. 9. which he made'to God in the be- ginning of his reign, that some from-hence have - been induced to ascribe this: book to him. Cat- met says, This prayer is continued from the be- ginning of this chapter to the end of the book, and ts vf opinion, that the book itself was never finished, or at least, that the conclusion of it ts lost; for the author dees not conclude his prayer, ag it 7s natural to suppose he should have done, « according to his first design. Preface sur la :» Livre de la Sagesse. QO: God of my fathers.) It is very obser- ; vable, that Solomon, or rather this writer, under that borrowed character, begins his prayer with, great humility, and a religious spirit of meekness. He beseeches God to hear him, nat for his own merit sake, but for the worthiness of the ancient patriarchs, for Abraham and David his father’s sake. He builds all -his hopes upon the pure goodness of God, as knowing that humility is an essential in prayer, and the most likely means of success. Ibid. Lord of mercy, who hast made all things with thy word.] Kugu rs intes cv. All the edi- tions Which retain this pronoun, which may as well be omitted, have the same corrupt reading, the true one probably, instead of ce may be Kupit Te tnivg, gu o wolicas, x. T. A. [ This reading cvs aancac is confirmed by Acts iv. 24. Atordla, «U @ Oioe 6 womans Tov paver : And then in the next verse must be read xaJacxevarac, with the best copies, (for xaleexevacas) which further confirms this conjecture.} Coverdale seems to have followed a copy which read so, * O Lord of mercyes, thou that hast made all thynges with thy. word,” 7, e. who spakest all things into be- ing, and “.by thy almighty fiat they are and were created.” Or, who madest all things by thy-word,‘thine eternal. asyor, that same word, who was “ in. the beginning with thee, and without. whom was not any thing made that was. made,” John i. 3. In this latter sense Cal- mei understands it, ‘“‘ Le Seigneur a créé l’Uni- vers parson Verbe, par son Fils;” and so do many. of the fathers. or [ibid. "EV OonTHs % Sixectoourn. According to equi- ty and righteousness in our version. Rather, in holiness and righteousness. So Luke i. 75. ty donors 8 Vixaiourr, and Ephes. iv. 24.- in both which places itis rightly rendered, in holt- THE BOOK OF: WISDOM. t.> Cb aeakX tess, and: rightoousnese.: ‘Asirue: here. telategety things sacred ;: Samet things civil; oeiijng ‘tice between man and man: Thenotionsof e guity-in our lanevage-is different trom thatat éis7n in Greek. } eo NG ry ye SM ayge tone Ver. 4. Give me wisdam. that sitteth. vl ee throne.} ¢. e. The assessor of thy throne, avisi¢ may mean. more than being present wath» Girt, viz. assisting in his counsels, and presidingvever them. Sitting here may be consideredss% technical forensic term, and not only to.imply aright of judicature, in which sense it 7s used in many places of Scripture, Prov. xx; Srl xvi. 5. but even dominion and sovereigntyjam cording to St Jerome, ‘Comm. ad Ephes; by which supreme dignity of place, wisdom is'dis tinguished from ministering spirits ; foniwhen angels, ‘principalities, and powers, are :degaribs ed as attending about the throne of God; th are generally represented as standingmontfelh ing down before it, 2 Chron. xviii, 18.>ksa.0m% 2. Rev. iv..10. In this high sense some. primis live writers have explained this passage, ae imé plying a joint sovereignty of the- adyoe with God : See ver. 9, 10. of this chapter, wheseithe same exalted character is continued, ewhieh seems a very close imitation of Prov. viiisespes cially ver. 27, nrixa nrofuate rir ¥parir,. oupartipnans airs. But for the reasons before given,. {see note on chap. vii. 26. I think the meaning rather'to be, that wisdom, as a Divine :attri= bute is always present with God, as ‘his jomt: counseller, his assistant, if I may be allowed the expression, and the partner of his throne,‘ot tribunal, that she always exists in the-etdmal mind, is privy to its sovereign decrees, andiitt fluences all its deliberations and actions-;-that ° wisdom therefore is not only the ornamentybut the support and basis of God’s threne,-in as high, exalted, and proper a manner; as -rigtt teousness and equity are by the Psalmist’ sid to be “ the habitation of bis seat,?? Peal. Ixxxix. 15, Philo describes justice in the-sameé manner, riv wapedpor Sixny Te warlor-ryeuorec:’ Phid, De Justitia —& de Joseph. Arid the: heathens made her equally an assessor on Jupitet’s throne, Sinn -ovredpoe Zoe, Sophocl. in Ocdip. But Blu- tarch expresses himself eoncerning~ her in 4 manner which most resembles: this swrite?4 “* Justice, according to his descriptiod; does not only sit like a queen, at the right haandof Japiter, when he is upon his throne; but sit . is in his bosom, and one -with himself?” 2 ett ; Ver. 3. "Eagsouy ty curtoer ngioeat *% rouwrs’ RBS is not rightly. translated #oo young for the cum Cuar. bX. derstanding,. 8cc.» It means, deficient in’ the understanding of judgment and laws.}. «- - Ver. 6. For though a man be never so perfect among the children of men, yet if ty wisdone be not with him, he shall be nothing rezarded.| This observation actording to the Comment of Mes- sieurs du Port Royal, holds true, applied to rulers.in the church, as well as those in the state: ‘* For though a man have all know- ledge, and be so consummate in wisdom as to discourse even with the tongue of angels, though he have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, though he could work miracles, even to the removing mountains, and though he give all his goods to feed the poor, yet if he is devoid of the only true wisdom, that wisdom which proceedeth from God, and should be employed in his service, he may appear great indeed in the eyes of men, but, according to St Paul, he is nothing, or will be accounted as nothing, in the sight of God.” 1 Cor. xiii. 2. - Ver. 7. Thou hast chosen me to be a hing of thy people.| Melchior Canus and Sixtus Senen- sis lay great stress upon this passage, to prove Solomon the writer of this book; but their way of reasoning will prove too much, for if a bare assertion, the mere assuming the person of another, shall be thought sufficient to establish this point, then the Apostolical canons may, for the same reason, be pronounced canonical, for in the last of them we meet with these words, apake nucy ror ’Aroscaor. And yet, not- withstanding this assertion, and though the ti- tle itself seemingly bespeaks them to be the authors, they are now gencrally decried and disclaimed, even by some of the Romanists themselves: see Rainald’s Cens. Libr. Apocr. Prel. 15. It is most probable this passage of our author is spoken piuslixds, 7. e. by a feign- ed represeniation of a person, to take away any odium from the speaker; and to give the great- er weight to.what is delivered. Upon this oc- casion, no character was so proper to be assum- ed as that of Solomon, who himself wasa king, and eminent above all others for his understand- ing and wisdom ; because instruction offered and inculeated under so great a name, would be more regarded and attended to by persons of the same high rank and authority. Such a rhe- torical artifice we often meet with in books of ‘oratory: Thus ‘fully sometimes argues under the person of Cato the elder, ‘* Omnem sermo- nem tribuimus Catoni Seni, quo majorem au- toritatem’ habeat oratio.” But what comes nearest the point is, that Isocrates inscribes a THE. BOOK OF ‘WISDOM. IOL whole oration, Nicocles, and speaks in the per- son of that king, as if he really was the author, to give the greater sanction, and procure more reverence, to the duties enjoined in it: and yet no body, from that name or title, supposes it to belong to Nicocles, or that it was any thing else but an ingenious fiction of ‘Isocrates. ‘© The ancients, says Calmet, do often calf their works by the names of the persons they introduce as speaking: Thus Plato has given to his dialogues the names of Socrates, Tima- us, Protogoras, &c. And Cicero, in the same way, gives to one of his pieces the title of Bru- tus, and to another that of Hortensius. Xe- nophon styles the history in which he has drawn the model of a complete prince, Cyrus, as being the principal person or character in it: but none will pretend that these were wrote by the persons whose names they bear, for it is a- greed on all hands, that Plato, Cicero, Xeno- phon, were the true authors who composed these pieces under feigned names :’’ Dissert. sur ’ auteur du livre de Ja-Sagesse. And in another place the same learned writer gives the reason for this artifice and invention ; ‘* It may be considered as a prosopopeeia, as a sort of device, wherein a person, to give more weight to what is delivered, speaks in the name, and assumes the person, of some other more ancient. The Scripture has some instances of this sort, as that artful fiction of the widow of Tekoah, 2 Sam xiv. to incline David to fetch home Ab- salom ; that of the prophet, 1 Kings xx. 35. to rebuke Ahab ; and that of Nathan, reprov- ing David by that significant and fine parable of the ewe-lamb, 2 Sam. xii. And thus the prophets sometimes introduce God, Moses, A- braham, &c. speaking, to make their discourses more lively and more affecting.” - Pref. sur le livre de la Sagesse. ; “Ver. 8. A resemblance of the holy tabernacle, which thou hast prepared from the beginning.] i.e. Upon the model, says Calmet, of the taber- nacle, which Moses, by God’s direction, erect- ed for the people in the wilderness; and the temple was a true resemblance of it in all res- pects ; only what was small, and, as it were in miniature in the one, was inconceivably grand and magnificent in the other; but the disposition in both was nearly the same, and framed ac- cording to the pattern which God at first ex- hibited in the mount, Exod. xxv. 40. The Arabic version understands it in tie same sense, *¢ Simile tabernaculo sancto, cujus delineamen- tum ab initio preemisisti.” But Grotius, and 102 other writers, understand these words in’:a higher sense, viz. that the temple was a resems blance of heaven itself, prepared by God frona the beginning for the nghteous, And indeed the Jews seein to have had the same notion, for they fancied three heavens, and the third or highest leaven to be the habitation of God, and of the blessed angels; and to this distinc- tion they imagined the Atrium, Sanctuarium, and Sanctum Sanctorum, answered in the temple and tabernacle : the encampment of the twelve tribes about the tabernacle, they fancied Jike- wise to be a representation of the angels and heavenly host about the throne of God: Philo has the same sentiment in several places, and Josephus, lib. ili..¢. 7. No wonder therefore that this writer, from the great analogy. and agreement which the Jews supposed betwixt them, should call the temple, in which was the Sanctum Sanctorum, the resemblance, or image of heaven itself, prepared by God from ever- lasting. This. is. the language of an inspired pen, even the writer to the Hebrews, who speaking, ch. vili...s. of the tabernacle, calls: it the exemplar and -pattern of heavenly things ; and ch. ix. 24. he.calls the holy places made with hands, the figures of the true, or celesti- al ones. St Chrysostom, speaking of the tem- ple, calls it, ‘* the yreat and typical fabric, the image of the whole world, both sensible and intellectual ;” ana he justifies his notion from these canonical passages: Homil. de Nativ. And as the comparison in all these places is inade to heavenly things, so St John in the Revelations describes the heavenly sanctuary, by representations. taken from the Jewish tem- ple, particularly the throne of God, with his ministering spirits, is represented like that over the ark, where the Shechinah, or divine glory, sat encompassed with the cherubims. See Spencer de Leg. Hebr. tom.i.,p. 215. It may not be amiss to. observe upon the Greek read- ing of this passage, viz. wiunua oxnvig ayiag hy wponliuacas ax apyic, that hqwever the pas- sage itself be understood, whether of the hea- venly or earthly tabernacle, a7’ apy seems un- necessary after aporlofuaces. I. would. therefore carry these words forwards to the beginning of the next verse, and read am’ apyiic & mle ow 9 copia, x. t.&. [The present construction of the Greek is right, inasmuch as the author’s intent was to tell us, that the holy tabernacle was not only prepared, but prepared too from the be- ginning : however, to make the sense clearer, THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuher IXY it'seems necessary to separate tlie 8thi and: Oey verses only by acomma.J, © -1 1 ot) te Ver, Ll. Kai sipunader wety rn Soky evlitesc: Pers haps .the true reading may: rather be, ne! &&ia avric, by her right-hand: - As ‘ch. a6, ay Sein oxeraze autres. XxiX. 8. ds tv-7H omemaRasaine xept. However, the present reading ‘imdy receive some countenance from LEicclus. xiv." 2% Ver. 1.3. For what-man is.he that can know the: counsel of God? or who can think what .the:twill of the Lord is 2] From this passage some‘cénm fidently affirm St Paul borrowed the s34¢# verse of the: eleventh chapter to the: Romais}, and therefore they woult infer this book toe canonical. But this is a groundless. pretence for, Ist, we do not perceive in any part of ‘thé New Testament, this, or any other ecclesiastix cal book, cited or ‘referred to as Scripture: 2diy, It does not follow by any necessary eons sequence, that such sentences in Scripture’as, are like and parallel to some others in. apoery< phal or ecclesiastical writings, should be realty! taken from thence ; nothing being ‘more coms mon, than for different authors to hit wpomand) agree in the same moral maxims, without-hava ing read, or ever seen one another's: writing! 3dly, Some of those very sentences whichvarer said to be taken out of the book of Wisddth ot! Ecclesiasticus, occur in some part of those books! which are confessedly canonical ; and ‘particd?’ larly this passage of St Paul is in «the ‘sdme! terms, or to the same effect, Isai’ x1. 19, 2449 where the words are, “ who hath directedor does it mean, that Adam was created when nok thing else existed? ‘This cannot be the sense! as the works of the former days, and even,thé serpent amongst the rest, were confessedly; be? fore him: Or are we to understand this of: the creation of Adam before the existence of Eve; or any of the human species? But is not af much implied in his being called here wpdlo#se4 sos, and WaT KOT Us ? Or is it usual to-express’ qn® and the same thing by three synonimoys terms? I am inclined to conjecture, that the trite terdy ng here is, perry reférlz, and not pévoy xeSerd! as all the copies have it; which mistake mighf « easily happen from the likeness and-affinity 0g the sound: i, e. wisdom preserved Adatn 'fré from all harm and danger, when’ he was plaeé alone and by himself in paradise, see Gent. #.,8 where the LXX read, égurevcer 6 Otte Tapadesors eOdjo txee tiv arSoaror.- Nor am I quite singutar im this interpretation ; Tirinus expounds’ the; pas- sage in the same manner, “ Quamdiu'sdlugtuit, nec 4 consorte solicitatus ad. malam,” \ See Comment. in Loc. [Alone, i. e. single. Jo) Ibid. And brought him out of his fall.| Fe-was wisdom which preserved’ Adam in ‘patadise when alone, and after his ‘fall; by ‘particular grace vouchsafed to him, produced .in hight miliation and repentance: proportionate, ‘ty great transgression. He was sensible, ba ; expulsion from paradise, ‘that all tHat’ sa tra of evils.and miseries which he saw entering into Guar. X. the world, and:‘now are natural and hereditary to the whole: species, were so many punishments prourht‘into-it,-and imposed upon his posteri- ty, purely on his account; he considered the growing wickedness of the world as introduced and occasioned’ by him ; he considered the mor- tality-of his descendants, their frequent, and dften violent deaths, as the consequence of his sin. These refleetions, arising from his ingrati- tude to God, and his affectionate concern for his unhappy race, sunk so-deep into the mind of the first-formed father of the world, that, during the nine hundred and thirty years which he lived up- en earth after his fall, he continued under such a lively sense of his sin, and God’s just displea- sure, that he became an humble and remark. able penitent. This penitence, or recovery of eur first parents‘ from their fall, which seems here referred to, has, by some of the fathers, been represented as the effect of the grace of the second Adam, to whom the glory of being the -deliverer of the first was justly due, and been: maintained by the church, in the most éarly ‘times, as a catholic truth, Irenzeus, who lived at the end of the second century, reckons it accordingly (lib. i. c. 31.) among the here- sies of Tatian, that he held, that Adam and Eve were not saved: “ For, says that Father, as Je- sus Christ: had undertaken to: redeem man from the power and dominion of sin, it is but reason- able to give him the glory of the delivery of our first parents from it; for he would not have been so entirely victorious over the devil, if he had left them under the hands of that apostate spirit, who, by his subtilty, had taken them out of God’s hands.” Iren. lib. iii. c. 34. St Aug. Epist. gg. ad Evod. Tertull. lib. ii. cont. Mar: cion. Epiphan. Heres. 46. This was the sense of antiquity concerning Adam’s fall, and his happy recovery from it. Milton has finely re- presented Adam’s tender concern for his un- happy posterity in the following lines: All that I eat or drink, or shall beget, Is propagated curse. O voice, once heard. Delightfully, Encrease and multiply, ‘Now death to hear ! for what can I encrease, "Or multiply, but curses on my head ? Who, of alt-ages to succeed, but feeling ' The evil-on him brought by me, will curse - My head : IM fare our ancestor impure Book x:- For this wemey thank Adam: Which concludes with’ Adam’s seeking peace atid forgiveness of God, whom he had offended, . by supplication and repentance: . THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 105 ‘So spake our father penitent, nor Eve Felt less remorse: They forthwith to the.place Repairing where he judg’d them, prostrate fell Before him reverent, and both confess'd Humbly their faults, and pardon begg’d, with tears Watering the ground, and with their sighs the air Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, tn sign Of sorrow unfeign'’d, and humiliation meek. It is observable, that Moses, in the Book of Ge- nesis, where he mentions Adam’s fall, says no- thing of his repentance, which, though it be not expressly asserted in the text, yet neither can any thing certain or conclusive to the con- trary be inferred from Moses’s silence: This author has supplied what is there wanting, and acquainted us with the opinion of those of his ime, with respect to this very important in- quiry. “ The church of God hath always be- lieved that Adam repented and laid hold on the mercy of a second covenant, and was received, again into divine favour, though there be no ex- press mention of this in his history. Thus we do not read of any precept or law given by God to Adam after his fall, but we find the practice of sacrificing in his family. And it is scarce to be imagined, that he invented that right of his own head ; he was taught it, therefore, by the command and institution of God. And it is highly reasonable to think, that at the same time, when God gave a second law and institu- tion, he encouraged him also to the obedience of it, by a promise of acceptance and restitution - to his former favour. Upon this hope, doubt-- less, he renewed. his allegiance to his Creator, and devoted himself to the worship and service. of God, and taught his sons, Cain and Abel, to do so likewise.’? Bishop Bull’s Sermons, vol. i. p.. 349, 341. Ver. 2. Aid gave him power to: rule over all things.] Before his fall God gave to Adam the dominion over the creation, Gen..i. 28. ; and it. is not improbable, that-upon his transgression God deprived him of it by way of punishment, at least for a-time, or in part, and upon his sincere repentance, restored him: to his full so- vereignty. and power. ‘This seems to be the sen- timent of this writer, who, after the mention of Adam’s recovery from the sad consequences of © his fall, says, that God'* gave him. power to rule all things,’ which.cannot relate-to the ori- ginal grant, which’ was previous to his misfor- tune. Perhaps, instead of the present reading, tdaxty Te aura ioxuy ‘epariica: amajev, the true one may be, avidoxiy 7 au7d “ioxvy xparhoat amar fuys.- or thus, toxéy 7s aura ionuy xeaTHCK aU RH iy: 106 i.e, “ She restored to him the power of rul- ing all things,” or, “ She gave him the pow- et again to.rule all things.” And such a fresh donation of power seems necessary ; for, as Calmet. judiciously observes, “ Avant son pe- ché, toutes chosés lui etoient soumises ; il exer- coit sur elles un empire libre, aisé, agreable, vo- lontaire, tant de sa part, que de la leur: mais depuis sa chite, il ne conserva qu’ avec peine le reste de domaine que Dieu lui avoit laissé ;” i.e. “ Before the fall, Adam’s government of the creatures was free, easy, and agreeable, and their submission voluntary and willing ; but af- ter the fall, he with difficulty maintained his so- vereignty ; and the state of his affairs being al- tered, called for the same or a greater power.” Comment. in Loc. ; Ver. 3. When the unrighteous went away from her in his anger.) i. e. Cain, who had no regard either to wisdom, piety, or even humanity ; He is eminently called the unrighteous here, because he committed the first act of violence in the world, as the Scripture calls him, for the same reason, ‘* the offspring of the wicked one, who was a murderer from the beginning,” ix vv wornpe nv, ‘1 John iii. 12. And his brother is there denominated, righteous Abel, from his extraordinary and exemplary goodness, Matth. xxii. 35, Ay ‘Ibid. He perished also in the fury wherewith he murdered iis brother. For whose cause the earth being drowned with the flood.] The Scripture makes no mention of the perishing, or death, of Cain ; on the contrary, we read that God pro- longed his life in a miserable estate, as an ex- ample of his vengeance, and to continue Cain’s punishment: and fer this reason he gave a strict charge, that no one should for this fact destroy him, threatening to take vengeance sevenfold upon any that should kill him, Gen. iv. 1S: Gad is said also to have set a mark upon. Cain, i.e. to have given him a sign or token to assure him, that’none should take away his life. Sce Shuckford’s Connect. vol. i. p. 8. How there- foré are we to understand this writer, when he say$ here, that Cain perished also in the fury wherewith he murdered’his brother? did Cain then perish at the same time, and by the sudden and Violent effects of the same fury and passion ? or shall we imaginé him to allude to a tradi- tional story. among the Rabbins, that “ Lamech being blind, took his son Tubal Cain to hunt with him’in the woods, Where Cain used to lurk Hs Virdl Oe > ay t ' ae a, AEN up and down in the thickets, afraid’ of the com- merce and society of men; that the lad mistook - THE BOOK” OF, WiSPOM. Cure him for some beast stirring in the -bushepy and _that Lamech, by the direction of Tubal Cain, with a dart, or arrow, killed him,’},,,.) persuade myself to think that our author.re! to this uncertain tradition, which has,no,¢qua- tenance from any good history, and,is.geneally exploded as an idle and unsupported, ‘PORGRLY Nor can the meaning be, that Cain perished ip. the deluge, which happened, 4s, is..geneyally,. agreed, about ann. mun. 1656. see Usher|s. am nals; long before which time Cain, was dead, Much less reason is there to assert, that, the-dea . luge happened purely upon his account,.or.gygg occasioned by his single transgressign,’ ag,.the sense seems to be of our present versign. i think therefore that our translators have, quits mistaken the sense of this place, which, is.notty be understood of Cain solely or exclusively, which seems manifest from the following rag sons: Ist, "Adore is improperly joined .withk owamsntlo, eXcept we suppose that, more, pexsope perished. 2dly, 'Adcapoxfover Suusi, express aa the plural number, relates not ost ae which is mentioned immediately before, -butig persons of the like bloody temper, and disposi - tion. 3dly, The Arabic version expressly ang - derstands it of such persons, . which, ,s6qdey “ Periit una cum animabus fratricidis,)?),,. Coverdale’s version, following the ancient, Wally . gate, renders, “ The brotherhed perished tray the wrath of murthur:” which means a ‘nymbpe of persons, probably a whole fraternity or,kigdg red, that perished on that account. ,, It. ,remaigg then to enquire next, what wicked and yphappg - persons are here meant in particular, Epig difficulty Origen, who incidentally. mentions¢ba passage, helps us to explain, who understandpat of the descendants of Cain: for in,the, aptedin® luvian world there was not only a general noglesh, of virtue, and pursuit of wickedness, ,; but: }4Am% was one reigning crime, which Moses .takenngy ‘tice of in particular, viz. that the earth,was with violence. This expression, and the, seve Jaw made against murder soon. after,.the» makes it probable, that. the men, ‘of, this, firs world, especially the descendants off, Gain thada in imitation of him,. and by, the eve, influensa of his example, taken, great and jwwasrantable liberties in usurping. upon,,.amd, depsrayings GA lives of. one another; these,,seem, to, 4a; persons whom this writer, for ‘their, unnateml and bloody... temper, styles, @eapex]érer bush Ah Whose. sake, and upon account of whose) inkeaas, and blood:shedding, the deluge. really happen¢bay Hence then I ashiinduced to offer.a conjedturts Chap. X. that the true reading of the next verse is not, Say; ‘but % 8, and most probably the copy which Origen made use of read so ; for he ex- pressly renders, “* Hanc ob causam diluvium fit, ut deleatur Cain semen,” that God’s purpose in bringing the deluge, was to extinguish the pos- terity of Cain; Orig. in Evang. Joh. See also St Basil. Orat. 6. St Aug. De Civit. Dei, lib. xv. c. 24. And the Comment of Messieurs du Port Royal, which understands it, ‘* De Cain, & des autres mechans qui I’avoient imite.” This ts further confirmed from the testimony of the son of Sirach, Ecclus. xl. ro. who, enumerating the several instruments of God’s vengeance against the wicked, as the sword, famine, &c. imme- diately adds,’ ¥ 3 aures tyintlo Oo xzlaxaveuss, that for theit sakes came the deluge, 7, e. for the wicked- ness of such ungodly and bloody minded men as went inthe ways of Cain, as St Jude expresses i#t.': For the single fact of Cain, though very shocking, was not a sufficient cause alone of ‘bringing thé universal deluge, nor of conse- quence enough to involve the whole earth in it : but ‘when the earth was filled with violence, through the wicked manners and attempts of Cain’s descendants, then; or’ on that account, God destroyed the earth with a flood. We may lastly add the authority of the Arabic version, to-establish this conjecture, which reads, as I before observed, “ Periit una cum animabus fra- tricidis,”’ and chen adds, “ ob id obrutam diluvio terram,” &c. and: Vatablus, I observe, renders in ike manner. Such being then the fate of Cain’s descendants, Cain ‘himself may with: pro- priety enough be said to have perished with them, inasmuch as his whole race thereby be- came extinct. The words therefore adixo¢ cuvazaarfo are not ta-be understood of Cain personally, as our version takes them, but as consequentialiy suffering in the destruction of his posterity. From this generalcalamity of the flood, we may make this useful reflection, that it is nosecurity to ungodly persons that there are great numbers of them, they ought rather for that cause to be so much the more apprehensive: of speedy and dreadful judgments. For, because of the great- ness’of their number, because all flesh, as the Scripture expresses it, had corrupted themselves, the inhabitants of: the old world were so much the nearer destruction, and it:involved them for that ‘reason: [”ASixor and Svxase are often used by this author, and always express: no more than: ene single- person: so that cvvazuailo-is, undoubt- edly, to:be referred to adergoxforor Suuctt. But how this, last word can signify azimabus, or persons, THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 107 I do not well apprehend; and am inclined to think that the author wrote aderpexovore Supuncic’ “ Periit una cum iracundis fratricidis :” he perish- ed together with the passionate murderers of their brethren, i. e. with the men of that age, whose predominant vice was that of anger and rage (arising from uztpuporfa, pride) and the con- sequence of it, violence and murder.] Ver. 4. Wisdom again preserved it. i.e. By preserving Noah and his family, by whom, and their posterity in successive ages, the earth was replenished by degrees, and the several parts of the world at length inhabited. We way also, with Messieurs du Port Royal, con- sider this preservation mystically, for the ark was a figure and type of the church, as Noah and his family were of the members of it, whose preservation in the flood prefigured also-our redemption by the laver of regeneration, or bap- tism, as St Peter explains it, 1 Pet. iti. 91. So that the power of one and the same element, may be considered as the end or destruction of vice, and as the original and fountain of virtue. Ibid. And directed the course of the righteous in a piece of wood of small value.| ‘* Per con- temptibile lignum,” according to the Vulgate ;. see note on ch. xtv.. 6. Our author intends here no reflection on the strocture or usefual- ness of the ark, which was the design of infi- nite wisdom, and the work of'a whole century,. and so conveniently contrived, as to contain Noah, (whose very name, according to Philo, signifies righ¢eous,) and lis family, and all live. ing creatures, according to the appointed num- ber: of them ; he speaxs only as to appear ance, and’as it was then judged; for while it was building it appeared so contemptible, .that- Noah and his sons were, laughed at. for their de- sign, as beihg seemingly unable to endure such a-conflux of waters. And, indeed, that sucha piece of wood should ride safely when all the high hills were covered, and not be overset by winds or waves, or the many violent shocks it must’ necessarily meet with ;, that it should not be dashed to pieces against. rocks which were invisible, nor sink under so prodigious a weight as it contained, displays most illustrious- ly the power and providence of God, who chuses to effect his purposes oftentimes b means the most unpromising and unlikely.. Nor is the wisdom of God less to be admired in the contrivance of the ark, which may truly be said to be a world within itself, than his infnite power in directing it; for it has been demon- 2. 1a6 strated ‘mathematically, that there “was: suffi- cient room: in it-to contain all the things, am- mate and inanimate, which it was designed: for ; and that the measure and capacity of tlie ark, which some sceptics have made use of as an argument against the Scripture, onght ra- ther to be esteemed a most rational confirma- tion of the truth of it, and of the wisdom that designed it: See Bishop Wilkins’s Essay on a Real Character. Nor is Aratus to be under- stood as designing to cast any reflection upon the ark, or its structure, when he calls it in what follows, éa‘yor gvacy, a term as diminutive as that used by our author, O1 DF ers wégow ‘KatCorlas, srtyov 3 did Ebro, wid? igined. Phenom. p. 32. Ed. Oxon. Ver. 5. Morcover the nations in their wick- ed conspiracy being confounded.| Qur version here is faulty, the true rendering seems to be, ** When the nations around conspired or join- ed together in wickedness :”” ‘* Lorsque les na- tions conspirerent ensemble pour s’ abandon- ner au mal,’’ says Calmet, and with-him agree Messieurs du Port Royal ; and the Vulgate ren- ders accordingly, ‘* In consensu nequitiz cdm se nationes contullissent ;” i, e. when, they were over-run with idolatry ; for neither the creation of the world, nor the universal deluge, nor the confusion of languages, could preserve the be- lief of one supreme God only; but the new world was as universally over-run with poly- theism and idolatry, as the old world was with violence, and the very dispersion of mankind probably contributed to it. Then, when all the nations around were sunk into idolatry, God called Abraham from Chaldea, whom the context shews to be here meant. ‘This I take to’ be a truer sense of the place, than with some to interpret it of the conspiracy .to build the tower of Babel. The learned Usher, it must be.confessed, seems to understand it in this lat- ter sense, for in his account of that bold and presumptuous design, he refers to this very place, which is somewhat surprising ; for this cannot be reconciled even with his own chrono- logy, for the building this tower was A. M. 1757, and Abraham was not born till A.M. 2008. _Calmet therefore mentions this in his Preface, as an objection against our author, ‘* Il semble ,eroire qu’ Abraham étoit au tems de la.con- struction de la tour de Babel :” But ‘this ana- chronism is removed by the sense which.§ have given ofthis passage, ~ mals | \ THE! BOOK OPOWVISDOM. sdutedus 26 Ghatak \fbid: Shafound-ontthe righteous and preserved hint btaméloss unto Godi| » Some have assented; that Abraham not ‘only: lived blameless atythe midst..of idolatrous: nations, but that; révewaa his father’s house, -where he spent the first: part of his life, hhe> preserved. himself: free’frorm the idolatvous’ worship which infected yur Yauére, Antig. lib. i.-c. rx. Later writers attest the same of their times ; Benjamin the Jew, who lived. im the twelfth century; mentions it in his Itinerary ; and some more modern authors speak of it as yet existing, Suo quasi safe: condita, as Bishop Fell-jocularly speaks of it. Adricomius quotes three authors that were eye- witnesses of it; and he particularly tells us its situation, that it stands between Engaddi and the Dead Sea ; ‘Theatrum terre sancte, p. 55. Mr Maundrell, on the other side, gave so little credit to the reality of this pillar, that, though he wanted not curiosity, yet he wanted faith to induce him to go to-see- this monument of Lot’s metamorphosed wife ; Journey from aleppo, p. 85. Various have beets the conjectures of learned men about the. reality of this: pillar of salt. Some, with much, subtilty, understand a pillar of salt to. signify only an everlasting pillar, of what mat- ter soever made, in the same sense as they in. terpret the covenant of salt, Num. xviii. 1g. Others-have:fancied that this’history, like. that, ef Nabal, 1 Sam. xxv.-37. is to: be. understood! comparatively, that Lot’s wife was as a-pillar‘of salt;.as. Niobe, according to the fable, which THE BOOK OF: WISDOM. Citar most probably took its! rise from this histanppiy: said to have been turned, through’ griefpdntonk sort of. stone ; but there. is more teasou:to whe derstand this literally. »But:it will them perhaps be asked, how it happened that this woman was not destroyed with fire and consumed to nothy ing, as the Sodomites were, but: was: converted by the powerful wrath of God into this‘ pillarof salt, a perpetual spectacle for all ibeholders; To this enquiry I shall return an answer im thé words of a polite writer, who explains’ thisvaos cident in:the following manner: .‘¢Ehataas ‘“ thunder, or rather lightning, stiffens all-dnil “ mals it strikes in an instant, and leavesthem “ dead in the same posture:in which it found “ them alive, this unhappy woman’s body being prepared by heat, and penetrated and .em “ crusted with salt, which fell. down fromyheas “"ven in great quantities upon this devoted.ses “ gion, might long subsist as.a stathe!of saltjiat “ the very posture in which this judgment drone “ heaven found her. Nor is: there; much dif< “ ficulty in conceiving how salt:should:comtinud * so long undissolved in the ‘open air,(sinceuvit “ is well known to naturalists, that:rocks: df salb. ‘““ are as lasting as any other rocks¢’/{Reuelaa tion Examined, vol.ii. p. 229.0 Pliny mentiqus a mineral kind of salt, which never: melts} dmb serves for building as well as istone, hibiaxxail c. 7. The reason which Tertullian:assigns efor the durableness of this pillar, .* pie perpetuin temporibus reparetur, & si.quis advenaformaa . mutilaverit, vulnera ex sese complet,’* is:so sun prising and incredible, that it can be considemdl in no other light than asa fable or legend;banded&. down by an imperfect tradition, upon-nd:betrer foundation than another story ‘relating: to tbisi woman, which for decency sake» I foxbearsadi mention. Lio netic 8 osubs Ibid. 4 monument of an unbelieving spuds} 14 would be better rendered, “ A: monumentactt the.unbelieving soul.” And.so Covertlale'ssqudy, the aneient English versions rendei,.# A. tokem of remembrance.of the unfaythful:solue.?? [Dhew: vie, Must have been: in the Greek, Fhepemphir, tical, cannot possibly be expressed withoutit}ai article, either- here: or p. 13. or‘ indeed!!qpps where..}. The: transgression..of Lot’sp.rifevtm. greatly aggravated: by the following partisulmysa: 1. She was. delivered, with: her..busband-qad: daughters,. out..of Sodom,.and: brought: forthay:- the angel’s own hands, 2a. She-wab wasnedsthabe she, should not leek: baok;.-nor vabsdic in ‘al }itioes - plain, Jést she. .perished: yg. Fhere.was areity - very near to them: appointed, whichyshe right) t (14 Qhapux. easilyhavertteached,-and been in safety. ‘4. She dad sher-husband and children with*her, whom she ought.to have accompanied ; but she ne- glects these, and not believing the angels that Sodom would’ be so soon destroyed, would in- dulge a criminal curiosity of looking back ; her punishment, therefore, for these reasons, was just. Many useful reflections, for the conduct of others, have been raised from the signal mis- fortune of this woman. Our Saviour, we may observe, to guard his disciples against any hard- ness:of heart, bids them to remember Lot’s wife, Luke xvii. 32. lest they also should perish thro’ unbelief. St Austin says, ‘* That God chose this public punishment for the sake of others, to pro- claim to them to beware, by her example, not to look back to a wicked Sodom, i. e. not to return ta their old vices, from which they have been called away by some gracious means that God hath.afforded them : “ Quo pertinet quod pro- hibiti sunt qui liberabantur ab angelis retro respicere, nisi quia non est animo redeundum ad veterem vitam, qua per gratiam regenerati exui- mur?” De Civit. Dei, lib. xvi. c. 30. The like useful inference St Cyprian draws from this ac- cident, Epist. xi. But St Clement most fully expresses the sense of this and the former verse, and how we should improve by the history of their misfortunes : “ By hospitality and godli- ness was Lot saved out of Sodom, when all the country round about was destroyed by fire and brimstone ; the Lord thereby making it mani- fest, that he will not forsake those that trust in him, but will bring the disobedient to punish- ment and correction; For his’ wife, who went out with him, being of a distrustful mind, and Not.continuing in the same obedience, was for that reason set forth for an example, being turn- ed into a pillar of salt unto this day ; that so all men. may know, that those that are double- minded and distrustful of the power of God are prepared for condemnation.” .Clement. Epist. isc. 11. See also Cyr. Catechet. Mystag. i. Ver. 8. So that in the things wherein they offend- ed, they could not so- much «as be bid.] » This re- flection refers. not to Lot’s wife only, but regards equally» the. Sodomites, Cain, and his descend- ants, and’ the several faulty instances 'befure mentioned ; all of whom, through their igno-. rance of, or disregard for, true wisdom, fell into: very grievous transgressions, and are recordedias so: thay standing monuments.of:the just judg- mentiof Godwagainst such abominable practices, the shame whereof they inherit even at this day. Calinet -applies: this: evento Lot ‘himself, who THE BOOK -OF WISDOM. iis slighting the direction of the angels, who cr- dered -him to escape to the mountains, retired into a cave, was overtaken with drunkenness, and committed incest with his daughters; crimes which arose from his neglect of true wisdom, and are a lasting reproach upon this otherwise righteous man. Ver. 10. When the righteous fied from his bro- ther’s wrath, she guided hin in right paths.4 1. €. When Jacob fled from the wrath of Ksau into Mesopotamia, he was delivered from great dan- gers through wisdom that attended upon hiny, according to God’s promise to him, ‘ Behold, 1. am with thee, and will keep thee in al! places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this Jand ; for I will not leave thee until L have done that which I have spoken to thee of,” Gen. xxviii. 15. Herein Jacob is an image of all the faithful, whom God separates from the rest of mankind, protects with his favourable kindness, and conducts, as his chosen, in the right way to happiness; which the wicked, through a fatal mistake, and irregular wander-: ing out of the true path, cannot arrive at. Ibid. Shewed him the kingdom of God.| 1. e. When he beheld in his dream a ladder, the foot whereof stood upon the earth, and the top reached to heaven, andthe angels of God. were ascending and descending upon it; at the sight whereof, awaking from -his sleep, and being amazed at the glory of the visien, he could not contain himself from crying out, “ How dreadful is this place! for the Lord is here, tho’ I knew it not: This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of hea: ven 3” Gen. xxviii. 12, 17. [Perhaps it was Basineroy (for Basaciay) the palace ; because in Gen. XXvill. 17, it 38 oikeg Ow. Prov. xviii. 19. TeGepersomtvor Bastnecr. ‘This mystical ladder, ac- cording to the sense of the fathers, represents to us the care which the divine providence, in all ages, takes of the righteous; that God is pre- sent with them in the time of their affliction, and in the place of their exile and pilgrimage ;’ and that, in their sad and solitary condition; in a state of desertion as to all outward appear-' ance, they shall not want the assistance and comfortof the holy angels, who aré God’s mi-' nistering spirits, to attend:and sticcourthe saints in all their: difficulties and necessities whatso-’ ever, 4 ti i ie Weta es eae : ‘ Ibid. dad gave him knowledge of ‘holy things.) This contains something‘ mote than the former’ sentence, for wisdom’ taught Jacob inoreover ' things relating to. the’ service of God: is proba-. a I12 ble that, in this vision, he received from God him- self, who then appeared to him, Gen. xxviti.13. instruction of this nature,-by his erecting a pillar instantly, that very stone upon which he had rest- ed his weariness, and poured oil upon the top of -it, to consecrate it asa monument of God’s great mercy to him: By his dedicating the place to God’s service under the name ‘of Bethe/, or God’s house, by his vowing a vow, the first pro- bably of that nature, and promising to restore to God the tenth of all that he should give him. Ibid. Made him rich in his travels, and multi- phed (the fruit of) his /abours.] Dr Grabe thinks that e-rdpxser, which is the reading in all the editions, should be suxépiser, because the for- mer signifies only to grow rich, but the latter ¢o make rick, which is the sense of the author in this place ; and thus «vzopfew is used in Lucian, Quomodo Hist. seribenda sit, tom. ii. p. 395. edit: Basil, -though all the lexicographers omit this’ sense.’ Grab. Proleg. tom. ult. cap. 4 Kat imandure rec wires av7s. “The literal rendering of the-place is, that wisdom ‘multiplied his la- bours,: and: made him rich by them: and: so Junius understands it, ‘‘Locupletavit eum in vrumnis, *-quum multipticaret ‘labores: ejus.” Adl’the commentators and ancient versions take it-'in -another-sense, ‘that she prospered the fruits of ‘his labours; which is apparently the sense of our translators. This blessing Jaco’ lrappi-+ ly experienced,.as a: reward ‘of his:hard and continuat‘labour ; for though Laban defrauded him of his wages ten times: when he thad served him twenty years faithfully in his house,‘ and through constant and painful watching - was ** consumed by the drought in-the day, and by. the frost in:the night, yet God.suffered ‘him not to be sent away thus empty, bat gave him:sue- ‘cess and riches equal to his labours ; for it was he that gave that extraordinary blessing to the artifice‘of laying the:rods’before the cattle, and, as the ‘learned think; (see:Bishop Patrick in loc.} directed him by an:angel to: that inven- tian, ancd>promised to give-sucodss:to it; Gen? Axxi, 10, 14,°12) intending: .te'transfer «unto Jacob“a good: share: of the wealth of Gatan; which was‘accordingly effected by this/con tri vance,-atid Laban*s'injustice hereby’ punished; and his policy over-ruled. .And -to:this agrees the Arabic version of this place, « Sinus -ejus implevit ‘optbos corm qui insultaverant isis”? He readiixbwive ‘instead ‘of! eb-rvc' “(whith «tlie Alexandriah ‘MS ‘retains) cand: joined they two verses~ together, snistakiny cavntin --foy- oped} THE BOOK ‘OF WISDOM. In.this.sense ore>"canriot. help ‘observing: ‘propriety’ of the word é#asbum,.. which: seometo intimate the: manner ef. Jacob’s coming ‘dsyahts riches; viz. that’ it was by the multiplying) ey surprizing fruitfulness of the cattle. © ‘nu.tey) Ver..112 In the:covetousness af such yop. pressed him, she stood. by him, santd.-made iin “rich. ] "Ey @wrtoretia xahexuerfor auriy wap, » Cals met says the true reading of the Greek i8,'adss cagisn, and explains ‘it accordingly, i: 6 Peol. assista contre’ avarice de ceux qui) vouloient user de violencey ‘ou-quivavoient Pavantaged? [This alteration is vot at all necessary. °-f construction is, aOpdrer OF roar sxafe yur ler aifir ey anrevekia;- oagicn, &ec: ** When: soind out-of covetousness oppressed him, she stood: by him? Kalexver has-an accusative case after 7t7n ste ral: places of this author:] -:In-thesbeoksof Gye nesis we meet with the ‘séverat -waysrem &seynes tagems by which Laban, who-hadzalpremapamt: gard to his own interest than to.jastiee, vrieal voured to surprize Jacob; cand hindér hiner receiving the fruits of ‘his Jabours't!forcvelten ‘Laban,:to his surprize, fonrid the contract wey: advantageous:to Jacob, and- had she- sort eal tion-to see thé:cattlecbring forth salwar aoday directly against’ his interest; he¢ Gibsebedcbants own agreement, aad made a: now: one withtdas cob. - -Coverdale ‘therefore very 'propefhy ent: ders, ‘*in the ‘decéatfulness of such ‘as defraiht: ed him, she -stode by*him,” ‘which is ienwas greeable to wHat’ Jacob’himeelf says, -Geavesaatt 7. °**- Your Father hath deceive me;and okie ged'my wages ten times ;’ butGod suffered. Wap not-to hurt me.?’ For it was imposbibletbyr'det cob must have ‘been greatly injured. by wrgmt of that profeund-subtilty, had notehe exteaest dinary interposition ‘of God wonterfatkyaihe: vented it, and disappointed the deceiver; whiet the patriarch very ‘gratefully acknowledgesi!b08, Ver:.12. She defended ‘him “from hig: enema and kept him safe from- those ‘that ‘layne 2. e:' Hither -by ‘turning -away the wrathiofi brother! Esau, which, through:his radens com duct and ‘thamble submission; waeret Jey mhollified ‘and changedinto! leveland! se ness';‘or ‘by God's threatening Labany aera. divam, from attempting -dny ting againse be cob, of seizing “upon any of: his. posseesontl) when--he ‘pursued’ after him:): Ia-Gems muir we read} thatthe angels of: God met dagotunt his'jenrney,tolenvduraie and comfort dbname doubt; with the -assuranes thatiGod dear Witt ’ bins; and tat he‘ealledk the tamed theeplaeth WMoahaneim): +: eb Mbt wid hosts “OF. compe qt ‘ok Craudl, CHAPS. OX. it-is prabably supposed, that the angels might appear.to him as distinguished into two armies, the better to defend him against his enemies on all sides. See ‘Well’s Geography of. the Old Testament, vol. i. p. 361. Ibid. And ‘in a’ sore conflict gave him the vic- tory, that he might know that godliness is strong- er.than all.}. [This is a wrong translation, it should be, ‘‘ and appointed (or adjudged to) him a strong conflict ; that he might know that piety is more powerful than any thing.”’ I won- der how. our translators construed the former part of this sentence. It relates to that con- flict.or wrestling which Jacob had with the an- gel,: over whom he was at last victorious ; nor would he quit his hold till he had obtained a blessing. The struggling of an angel witha man may seem impar congressus, and the vic- tory. of: the latter is still more surprising: But many: worthy’ ends were implied in this com- hat, and several useful reflections may be drawn tromit.” 1s Jacob having such power with God as to be able to prevail. over one of his minis- ters, was hence reminded not to fear his bro- ther. Esau, nor any attempt that he’ should make against him. 2. God enabled Jacob to prevail over the angel whom he contended with, to shew.the great power that those saints have who put their whole trust and confidence in him. 3. We further from hence learn, that when God suffers his saints to be exposed to great trials and severe temptations, it is with a design to teach them, by an experience of their own weakness and Ifis might, that it is he alone that makes them victorious : and that he whom they. have preferred to the world is greater than the world, and more powerful than all things and.persons in it. The fine observation con- tained in the conclusion of the verse, zzz. ** that godliness is stronger than all,” though true in an eminent degree of Jacob, as has been shewn, and is indeed implied in his victory, need not be confined to his single person ; there are many other signal instances in the Old Testament to confirm this truth. It was by godliness that Jonathan; with his armour-bearer alone, put a whole:parrison to flight ; that David, unarm- ed; overthrew Goliah, and prevailed against the artefices of, and violence of Saul; that Jebo- saphat, without drawing a sword, triumphed aver thrbei confederate nations; that Hezekiah saved Jerusalem, and the kingdom of Judah, againstian huddzed fourscore and. five thousand Assyrians! that, eame against it: Ir was piety that deteyminedsconstantly the fate: of the Jew>" THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Ir3 ish people, and according to their observance of this, was the public happiness and condition of that state. And the same observation will hold with respect to any. other nation or peo- ple, who will be always found to be successful or otherwise, according as they regard God, and encourage and promote a true sense of piety. So that the advice of the Psalmist ts, at all times, best to be followed, and will be found, upon trial, to be even the truest policy, *¢ Some put their trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God,” Psal. xx. 7. This power of piety, or truth, as it is called, is finely displayed by the Apocryphal Esdras, in that contest before Darius, i Esdras it. iv. where, after the arguments used in fa- vour of wine, women, and kings, at length trath beareth away the victory, as_ being ‘* stronger than all things ; for trath endureth, and is always strong, it liveth and conquereth for evermore ; neither in her judgment is any unrighteousness, she is the strength, kingdom, power, and majesty of all ages. And all the people shouted, and said, Great is truth, and mighty above all things.” Ver. 13. When the righteous was sold, she far- sook him not.| [** When a righteous man was sold ;”? the article is wanting. See on ver. 7.] Joseph is another remarkable instance of God’s protection and care of-his afflicted servants. Jo- seph was sent to lis brethren upon a friendly messave ; and his coming was even beneficial to them ; but the recompence he met with was treachery and violence; it was unnatural to sel] their brother, buts was an aggravation of their cruelty, to sell him, an innocent and ten- der youth, to rough barbarians, and by them to be carried away into such a‘country as Egypt. : Ephraim Syrus is very pathetic upon this oc-.- casion ; he makes the unhappy Joseph to stop at his mother Rachel’s, monument, as he was going with the merchants into Egypt; his complaint there, and the deep and melting:im-: pression it made, even upon his [shmaelite- masters, is very moving and affecting: De Laud. Jos. Nor is his eloquence and invention less to be admired upon the other parts of Jo-, seph’s sad history. The affliction of Joseph is a common allusion in Scripture, and the stan-., dard, as it were, to try others’ afflictions by. if. is recorded of him, that he was but seventeen. years old wheu, his troubles first began; and: though the patriarchs that were before him uny, derwent their sxespective trials and calamities, 114 THE BOOK yet the Holy Spirit mentions none of their af- flictions with the same emphasis as that of Jo- seph, as if they were to be the badge and cha- racteristic by which he was to be distinguished from the rest: But through the favour of pro- vidence, and its secret but wonderful cecono- my, his very afflictions were made the means of his advancement. This so remarkable an mstance of the guidance of divine provi- dence, another father applies to the afilicted and unfortunate, for their comfort and encou- ragement: ‘* Joseph, a single person, sold a bondsman into Egypt, there destitute, impri- soned, enslaved ; at length went forth a multi- tude from thence, even to the number of six hundred thousand souls, which grew up to be a great and very powerful people.” Greg. Nazian. Orat. $2. Ibid. But delivered hin from sin.] This re- lates'to Joseph withstanding the solicitations of his mistress, Potiphar’s wife, who, through a criminal love, would have tempted him to adultery ; but by a strict regard to chastity, and a religious adherence to his duty, he was deaf to her entreaties, and proof against her amorous violence.- The reflection of Rollin upon this part of Joseph’s character is so fine, and the advice therein given of such conse- quence to young and unguarded minds, that I cannot better illustrate this place, or more please well-disposed readers, than by transcrib- ing it: ‘* We find in his (Joseph’s) conduct an excellent model of what we should do when we are tempted. Joseph defends himself at first by the remembrance of God and his duty : ‘« How, (says he to that -hold and shameless woman,) can [ commit such an action, who have ‘God for my Witness and my Judge? It is in his sight that you and I shall both be- ~eome criminal: It is he who commands me to disobey you upon this occasion. How can I escape his view or corrupt his justice, or be co- vered from his indignation ? How then can [ do this great wickedness and sin against God ?”” But when the temptation became so strong, that he had cause to fear his weakness might yield to it, he prudently betakes himself to flight, rather than parly any longer, or continue in such a state of danger and temptation, as might at length incline him to offend against God.”? Method of Studying Belles Lettres, vol. ii. p. 144. Wid. She went down with him into the pit.] Jo- seph’s noble resistance provoked his impudent mistress, who wrongfully accused him to her OF WISDOM. Cras: husband, and was the occasion of bis being cag into the prison ; over whom God was, «under: this unhappy circumstance, more abundant watchful. For the Scripture seems to be par ticularly careful to make us take notice, how God protected this his servant, by inforaiing us,-that ‘* the Lord was with Joseph 3” or,vacs cording-to the Chaldee paraphrase of the place,. that ‘* the Word of the Lord was with thim,?? Gen, xxxix. 21. This expression, that <‘the Lord was with Joseph in the prison,” seemsoto intimate, that when Joseph was thrown ‘intot, and seemingly forsaken of all, God descended with him into the obscure dungeon ; -and:the expression of our author, that ‘* wisdom .weat down with him into the pit, and left him netia bonds,"’ is to the same purpose, viz. Thatethe eternal wisdom becaine in a manner prisoner with him; i.e. according to the same polite writer, ‘* She softened the tediousness of dis nights, which were spent in watching and suf fering ; she wasa light in that darkoess whepe the rays of the sun could not penetrate ;) she took away from the solitude of his confinement, ' which neither reading nor business could amasg¢ or suspend the disagreeable. sense of; andthe diffused a calmness and serenity over his anind; which arose from an invisible and inexhaustible spring. In this his miserable confinement-she was nearest to Joseph, as she is to every man in adversity that has faith: Nor is it «said, when Joseph was made a partner in the throne of Pharaoh, that wisdom ascended with: him thither, as it is said, that.she descended with him into prison, and assisted him in his bonds,? Vol. iii. p. 139. St Ambrose has the like-se- flection upon the same occasion: ‘* Non tut bantur innocentes cum falsis criminibus imper tuntur, & oppressa innocentia detruduntonia carcerem ; visitat Deus & in carcere suos, 8 i est plus auxilli, ubiest plus periculi.? DeJo seph. c. 5. nN NS Ver. 14. dnd left him not in bonds, tillishe. brought him the sceptre of the kingdom.) -This 1s no where mentioned in the Books of Moses ” it is there only said, that ‘* Joseph was made governor over all the land of Egypt :” Philo says, indeed, speaking of Joseph, that. Pharaob made him his viceroy, or, to speak more tralyi (says he,) king ; jccanor 8, et xpH TF aanbe etarciery Ate one. But we are not to understand our,author © as if he meant by the Sceptre ef the kingdom a truly royal power, a sovereignty strictly 60 called, ** Un regne, un empire absolu,’’ says Calmet; but only, that he was the second pest Crap. X. son in the kingdom, and had a most extensive power and authority. Some make him to be a partner in the throne with Pharaoh, and think he was invested with this power when Pharaoh took off his ring, which was the royal seal, from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s, and they cried before him, Bow the knee. But not- notwithstanding these ceremonies, and the su- preme honours paid him therein, Joseph was still a subject ; he was indeed his prime, or chief minister, governor over all the country ; but as his power came from Pharaoh, so was it subject to him. Grotius says it was usual with the Hebrews to give the name of king to such as were raised to some very extraordinary ho- nour, and invested with great authority ; and refers to ver. 16. of this chapter, which he un- derstands in the like sense: Comment. in foc. And thus governors of provinces, and persons of chief note and authority in countries of small extent, are called in Scripture, see Judg. i. 7. where the threescore and ten kings, mentioned to have had their thumbs and their great toes cutoff by Adonibezek, are not to be under- stood as real kings and princes,-but as so many rulers of cities or small territories, called indeed kings, as having a resemblance of kingly power, by their jurisdiction in such places. Man such petty kings were in Canaan in Joshua’s time, who were very numerons: ‘ Tous les Seigneurs qui governoient une ville,” says Cal- met in loc. ‘*s’appelloient du nom de Rois _ Till at length the greater overcame, and, as it averc, devoured the rest. The like may be said of the thirty and two kings which went up with Ben-hadad the king of Syria, to besiege Sama- ria, | Kings xx. 1. Isa. xix. @. And some of the ancients have given this name even to A- braham, Moses, and Israel; see Justin, lib. xxxvi. c. 2,and Nicol. Damascen. apud Joseph. Antiq. lib. i. c. 7. and Calmet in Joc. ‘This seems confirmed likewise by the new name which Pharaoh gave him ; which he conferred, not only because he was a foreigner, and intend- ed to honour him, but to denote him to be his subject, though ruler of every body else: See Pat. in loc. A name, which, according to St Jerom and the Vulgar Latin, signified, ‘* The Saviour of the world :’? See Gregory’s Notes, p- 65. probably in allusion to the services done by him in the time of the famine. But perhaps this name may mystically inclyde some- thing higher ; for some learned men have re- marked, that there are few saints of the Old Testament, in whom God has been pleased to THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 103 express so many circumstances of resemblance with his son, as in Joseph; See the particulars of the agreement, and the parallel drawn by Rollin, Vol. 1H. on the Beiles Lettres, p. 155. This is doing the greatest honour to Joseph, and strictly giving him perpelaal glory. Ibid. Aad gave him perpetual glory.) By the term perpetual, we may understand, that Jo. seph’s glory did not die with him, but was pre-. served and handed down to posterity, by some public monument in his favour, or by some symbol representing him. Dr Spencer contends, that the ark and cherubims were honourable hieroglyphics of Joseph; beth cf which had a symbolical reference to him, and preserved his memory ; “ /Equun est opinari, Deum Cheru- bim & Arcam, pre ahis omnibus instituisse, eo quod Josephi piissimi & charissimi monimentum extarent. Nam Arca non tantum nomine, sed & figura cum Josephi Arca, & Cherubim cum bove, Josephi nomine & insigni, maxime con- veniebant—ut utraque ejus vitam & mortem ab oblivione in aternum vindicarent.” Tom. it. de Orig. Arce & Cherub. p. 878, 9. But the learned Vossius has made it appear, with more probability, from the testimonies of Ruffin and Suidas, and other authorities and arguments, that the memory of Joseph was preserved under the Egyptian Apis: For he observes, first, that it is highly probable so extraordinary a person, so great a prophet and statesman, and so public a benefactor as Joseph was, would have his me- mory consecrated to posterity: That the Egyp- tians were most likely to do this, by some sym- bolical representation of the kindness ; and that no symbol was more proper for this, than the Egyptian Apis, because the famine was prefigur- ed by the lean kine, and the time of plenty by the fat, the ox being a known symbol of fruit- fulness and plenty, which Joseph was in a very great degree the happy occasion of. It is evi- dent, likewise, from Pharaoh’s rewarding Joseph, that the Egyptians were desirous of shewing their gratitude; and it is no less certain, that it was the common practice among them, to per- petuate the memory of benefactors by ‘some symbols, which, though at first designed only for civil use, were afterwards abused into idolatry and superstition. And lastly, the very names, Apis and Serapis give great light and probabili- ty to the conjecture : .For Vossius conceives A+ pis to be the sacred name of Joseph among the Egyptians, and answers to the Hebrew. 38 a4, 3, ¢. father, and such indeed he was to Pharaoh and his people, and Joseph expressly calls himself ra) eae) so, Gen. xlv. 8. The Scripture likewise informs us, that,: by the order of Pharaoh, they cried be- fore him, adbrech, which is a compound word, and means, according to the ravbins, both Ayng and futher. Serapis it is well known, had a bushel on his head, another very significant sym- bol of Joseph ; and the very. name of Serapis, is probably derived from Wy sor, which signifies a bull, and apis. So that we seem here to have the sacred story of Joseph visibly traced through all the Egyptian darkness and superstition. Vos- sius de Idololat. lib. i. Sulpic. Sever. lib. ii. c. 21. in nolis. Gregory’s Observations, p. 65. Reeves’s Apology, vol. ii. p. 39. [Ibid. Power against those who oppressed hin.) Greek iuciar guparrey Joy avjs, Power over those who oppress him; viz. Potiphar and his wife, and o- thers who had used him ne Tuperrerdor for Tuparyn= cortay, aS Ch. v. 1. abdhwtor, for abInoarlor.] Ver. 15. She delivered the righteous people and blameless seed from the nation thut oppressed them.] It has been an objection against this writer, that he represents the Hebrews, when they were in Egypt under the bondage of Pha- raoh, as a just and irreproachable people ; which is not agreeable to what Ezekiel says of them, and some others of the prophets, who accuse them as given to idolatry, in that place, and at that time, Ezek, xx. 8. xxiii. 3. Others think, that, as a Jew, he speaks of them in general, according to the notion which they had con- ceived of themselves; for they were full of spi- ritual presumption, looked upon all other na- tions with the utmost contempt, as imagining themselves to be the only righteous and accept- ed, and thought every thing their due, and that as God had shewn particular honour and kind- ness to the Jews, in chusing them to be his peo- ple, he would never reject them. In this latter -sense the profoundly learned Dr Jackson under- stands this place ; for he observes of our Author, “That though he was a man of an excellent contemplative ‘spirit, as full as the moon, in points of high speculation of God’s general pro- vidence in governing the world ; yet when he comes to discuss the different manner of God’s dealing with the righteous (which in his lan- guage are the seed of Abraham,) and the wic- ked heathen, he betrays himself, in some mea- sure, to be infected with a disease common un- to his countrymen the Jews.” The radical dis- ease. Which was common to the whole Jewish Ration. at, that.time, and to this author in parti- . cular,, he says, was this, ‘Phat because they Wer, the, seed of Abraham, they, were the only , nghteous and blameless seed. And. however THE BOOK OF WISDOM. CHarisX) the Lord God of their fathers did often chastise and correct them, yet all his corrections were filial ; ch. xi. 10. xil. 22. That he would :not, or could not, at any time. plague them, ashe had done the unrighteous heathen, or punish them with the like blindness of mind, or-hard. ness of heart, as he had done the. Egyptians, But St Paul has given a receipt or medicine: for curing this disease in his countrymen then,liy. ing, and for preventing the like in after ages, whether in Jew or Gentile, Rom. ix..28, “ Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth,” The extract of which aphorism is this, that the . Lord was not so tied by oath or promise. unto Abraham, but that he might and would-hardea . the hearts, and blind the eyes of his seed, aftey the same manner he had done Pharaoh’s and the I-gyptians, if at any time they should become, as obstinate as Pharaoh and his people had been, —To harden the seed of Abraham, upon.the like pride of heart, obstinacy, and contempt of God’s forewarnings, could be no. prejudice to. God’s oath to Abraham, no impeachment of this promised loving-kindness to David, but rathera proof to all the world, that the God of Abraham was no respecter of persons ; -but as they, who in every nation fear him and love righteousness, shall be accepted of him; so all those of, any nation, that despise him, and work. unrighteops- ness, shall be rejected by him :” tom. ‘iii, p. 206, 7. And the history of the Jewish people justifies this observation ; for as they grew still more corrupt, wicked, and idolatrous in the pro, mised land, than they had been in Egypt, not. withstanding the many instructions, invitations, . reproofs, and miracles of their prophets and: holy guides to reclaim them, God was at last obliged to send them captive to Nineveh and Babylon; and at length, when neither corrections nor be- nefits, nor even the coming of their own\Mes- siah, could overcome their obstinacy, God was pleased to reject his once beloved, and to.call and adopt the Gentiles that were afar off. But perhaps we may explain this passage of our au; thor, which hath been excepted against for the reasons before given, in a good consistent sense, without supposing any prejudice or partiality, 10 his countrymen, as the latter objection does, oF that the author maintains any false fact in the instance before. us, as is the sense of the former: . For, 1. This writer may probably call the Jews a.rightevrs, or, as the margin has it, a holy.péo- pl. raiv dor, upgn account of their external, ho- Jingss,..as being, a peculiar, people, a chosen, ge neration, a holy nation, separated more immedi- Cuap. X. ately to God’s service, and called with a holy calling. 2. The Jews may be here, not im- properly, called, a d/ameless seed, owigua aucurttoy, upon account of the imputative righteousness of ‘the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their fore-fathers : The root therefore being holy, the -branches may be considered so in like manner. 3. Lhough the Jews cannot indeed properly be said to be a righteous and blameless seed, with -respect to God, who permitted their disgrace and -punishment in Egypt, upon the account of their ‘wickedness ; yet with respect to Pharaoh and ‘the Egyptians, they may be said to be righteous and blameless, just and irreproachable ; “ Qui m’ avoient jamais oftensé les Egyptiens,” as hav- ing never injured or offended them, though greatly oppressed by them: This is Calmet’s Exposition, see Pref. sur la Livre de la Sagesse, & Comment. in loc. Ver. 16. She entered into the soul of the ser- vant of the Lord, and withstood dreadful kings in avonders and signs.Ji,e. She entered into the soul of Moses, here called the servant of tite Lord, by way of eminence, as he is in many places of scripture. ft is observable, that this writer speaks of dreadful kings in the plural number, though he only appeared before Pha- raoh; nor is there any reason to imagine moie kings than one in Egypt, except we should, with De Muis, include some neighbouring kings, then captive or tributary to Pharaoh : Comment. in Psal. cv. But this author, as I have before observed, (see note on ver. 14.) gives the names of kings to great men and nobiles. We have an instance of the like plu- ral expression, and upon the same occasion, Psal. cv. 30. © Their iand brorght forth frogs, yea, even in their kings chambers.” "Ev ois Tou Tor fuomtar avror, LXX. Coverdale’s transiation refers it to Pharaoh only, ‘ She stode by him in wonders and tokens agaynst the horrible kyng.” The sense of the whole verse is, that wisdom entered into the soul of Moses, and spake by his mouth, and made him even a-god unto Pharaoh, before whom, his royal issue, and his nobles, he wrought-so many surprising miracles, as might have convinced thein, that God was the sovereign ruler, not only over all the kingdoms of the earth, but even over the elements and universal nature. Ver. 7. Iendered to the righteous a reward of their labours.| (od gave the Israelites, at their departure, the goods of the Egyptians, as the reward of their lavour among them, and as their just due for their past services, Many of THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 117 the ancient fathers,.as Irenzus, ‘Tertullian, Epiphanius, §c. understand the case in this light, and look upon the spoiling of the Egyp- tians, as a piece of justice only due to them- selves: For undoubtedly the Israelites ought, both in equity and strict right, to have had some wages or recompence for the labours and hardships they underwent in their service ; to which they scein more entitled, considering the great benefits the Egyptians received from them in general, and from Joseph in particular. Saint Austin therefore well observes, speaking of the Egyptians, “ [fomines peregrinos labore gra- tuito injusté & vehementer afflixerant; digni er- go crant & Hebraei quibus talia Juberentur, & Keyptii, qui talia paterentur:” Lib. xxii. cont. Faust. We may add further in vindication of this fact, that it was done by the appointment and command of God himself, who thus pu- nished the Egyptians for their injustice and cruelty to the Israelites. And though it is contrary to the law of nature, as well as posi- tive law, to take away the just goods of ano- ther, because no man has a right for that pur- pose, yet the case is quite altered, when such an action is done by the command of Ged, who has an unquestionable right in, and pewer over, all persons and things, as the maker, and giver, and Lord of all. Vhere could be therefore no injustice jn this particular, as God had an-un- doubted right to transfer the property of the Egyptians to the Hebrews. Nor does Scrip- ture any where condemn or disapprove this fact; itis rather a confirmation of Scripture, for thus the promise to Abraham was-fulfilled, “© That nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterward shall they come out with great substance ;” Gen. xv. 14.—1 shall not enter any further into this argument: such as desire to see it discussed more at large, nay consult Shuckford, Connec. Sacr. & Prof. Hist. vol, ii. p. 495. Waterland’s Scripture vindicat- ed, Par. ii. p. 10. Grotius De Jure Belli & Pacis, and other writers, who justify this fact. by-a great number of good reasons. Ibid. Guided them m a marvellous way, and was unto them for.a cover by day.| This refers to the divine protection exhibited to the Israel- ites in their journeying through the -wilder- ness, when God led them by a pillar, which stood still when they-were to-rest, and moved: forward when and which way they were to march. ‘This pillar appeared as a cloud in the day, and served for a covering over them to defend them. from the seorching heat of the 3118 sun; which the writer of Ecclesiasticus ex presses very strongly, when he calls it, exéan amd navowror, % oxiry ars peonubpiac, C. xxxiv. 16. It was a cloud crected towards heaven, like a pil- lar upwards, but downwards flat and bread, spread over the body of the people, as after- wards more eminently over the tabernacle; and, though but one pillar, had two different ap- pearances and uses; of a cloud by day, to de- tend them from the heat, which in those parts was very excessive ; and of a fire by night, to direct and illuminate them. Coverdale’s and the Geneva Bibles express the first very properly, “On the daye-tyme she was a shadowe unto them.” This darkness of the cloud had also another use, wz. that it blinded and confound- ed their enetnies, that they might not come near to assault them. Mr Toland’s account for one and the same thing, giving both light and darkness to different parties, is very odd and singular, to say no worse of it: “ He sup- poses a fire was made by order of the Hebrew general, for a blind to the enemy, that they might be suspected to be where indecd they were not :” See his Hodegus, and note on ch. Kim. 7% Ibid. And a light of stars in the night-season.] The Greek reads, ee priya astpar riv ruxle, accord- ing to Grabe’s and some other editions; but &sper, which the Vatican copy preserves, seems more proper and expressive ; for aspor signifies a constellation, or a great collection of stars toge- ther, according to Didymus, asip % aspe Siagéps, e718 piy ase, ty 71 tsit 7d 8 aspoy Ex worngr cuvésnxer asépar, Codicy ty, 3% aspolernua xaarcizez. in Notisad Il. 4, ver. 75. Many of which constellations, by their joint and united light, might imitate a torch, or a flame, as the margin renders. But could the light of common stars, scattered here and there confusedly, assist the Israelites, tra- velling in a vast and pathless wilderness ? Or would so feeble a light serve for their direction, ~ and be sufficient for all their purposes? Cal- met compares to this light the 6 «sv, or the star which appeared at our Boatnait birth, Matt. ii. 9. “* Which, says he, was a light that moved in the air before the magi, something like the pil- lar of the cloud in the wilderness, which either stopt, or went forward, in such a manner, as was necessary for the conduct of the wise-men to the proper place.” This he takes to be an inflamed meteor in the middle region of the air, with miraculous and extraordinary circum- stances attending it. As our version, follow- ing the Greek, seems to make the real light of THE BOOK:.OF: WISDOM. Caar.X) the stars to be the guide of the Israelites inthe night-season ; asépwy, taken in this sense,- ima be sufficient for their direction. But the Syriae and Arabic versions understand this pillar ina different sense, that it was as a light of stars:in the night season ; the former reads, vice splem doris syderii; and the latter more fully, nocéd verd, vice fulgoris stellarum, splendor. We may therefore understand this place, either of a num- ber of constellations placed together, shining with a natural but very extraordinary light; or of a collection of meteors with a preter natural light; or, lastly, comparatively, that this light imitated that of the brightest stars, in the sense of the Oriental versions. [Perhaps the moon may be comprehended in the word dsépwy or dspur, See xvii. 5. where it certainly may.] In the Scripture, this appearance is dé scribed in much stronger terms; for the pit lar, which appeared in the day like a cloud, is there mentioned to be like a light, or pillag.ef fire: And thus the Psalmist, ‘In the day wane he led them with a cloud, and all. the night through with a light of fire ;” Peal, Ixxviii. 14. And to this the prophet alludes, when he says, “ The Lord will create upon ¢& very dwelling place on mount Zion, and upo her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of flaming fire by night ;” Isa, iv. 5. Salvian rightly describes this pillar, with. itg different appearances, when he calls it, * Mor bilem columnam, nubilam die, igneam necte, congruas colorum diversitates pro temporuss diversitate sumentem : scilicet ut & diei lucem Intea obscuritate distingueret, & caliginem noctis flammeo splendore claritatis radiaret.? De Gubern. Dei. lib. i. It seems, after alh , best, without aiming at explaining the nature of this appearance, to say, that the glorioug Schechinah itself, in this pillar, gave light.and comfort to God’s own peculium; for the res gent of this cloudy pillar was he that forms the light and creates darkness ; and as “ there wat the hiding of his power, so his brightness there was as the light, Habak, iii. 4...where..the reading of the LXX is too particular not to.ba taken notice of, % i0do ciyenow xpalasdr ienves avers} for it intimates the principle upon which.the- great Goel, or deliverer, proceeded to exert this his might under these different appearances, wz. his strong and powerful love towasds.his people. See note on ch. xix. 7. Messieurs do Port Royal. besides the literal, gives usa very useful allegorical sense of this pillar, viz. * That as the cloud by its overshadowing sheltered, th Cuap. X. Hebrews from the extremity of heat, so the as- sistance of the Holy Spirit defends us against the burnings and flames of concupiscence ; and as that light of fire guided them in a marvel- lous way in the very darkness of the night, so the Holy Spirit illuminates men’s minds with its heavenly light, under their sad state of spi- ritual darkness ; and with its holy fire cheers and comforts the saints in their greatest afflic- tions.” Comment. in loc. And, indeed, ac- cording to the mystical sense of the fathers, the whole people of Israel, and that which befel them, were types or figures of Christ and his church, as the apostle himself makes them, 1 Cor. x. their bondage in Egypt was a type of the slavery of sin, and their deliverance from thence, of our redemption from Satan. The desart through which they passed, and the dif- ficulties they encountered in it, were a lively figure of the miseries of this life; as Moses their leader was of Christ ; Canaan, of heaven; the Red Sea, of baptism ; and manna of his heaven- ly doctrine, which came down from heaven, and nourishes unto eternal life. Ver. 19, 20. And cast them up out of the bot- tom of the deep, therefore the righteous spoiled the ungodly.| |The expression here is ambigu- ous, and the interpreters are accordingly divid- ed about the true sense of it; the far greater part of them understand it, either of the Israel- ites’ happy escape from the Egyptian bondage, or from the dangers of the Red Sea. ‘This seems to be the sense of all the old English transta- tions, of the Oriental versions, and of the Vul- gate, which metaphorically renders, “* & ab altitudine inferoruin eduxit illos,” as if their escape from thence was like a return from the grave. Calmet renders very expressly, ‘elle a retiré les siens du fond des abysmes ;” and among the sacred critics, Grotius and Badwell are of the same opinion. But there is another, and I think, with submission, a better sense, and more agreeable to the context, which ap- plies these words to the Egyptians, which is favoured by the comment of Messieurs du Port Royal, which renders, ** Qui les a rejettez morts du fond des abysmes;” i. e. that after they were drowned, they were cast by the tide, or by God’s appointinent, from the bottom of the ‘sea to the shore, where the Israelites were en- camped ; by which means they possessed them- selves of their spoils. And to this agrees, in great measure, the account which Josephus gives, ‘¢ That the winds and the waves torced their arms ashore just at the place where the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 11g Hebrews had pitched their tenfs: which Mo- ses understood to be another providence, in furnishing the people with arms in this man- ner, that they so mach wanted, which were gathered together, and distributed among the Hebrews :” Antiq. lib. ii, c. 16. That the first sense, which applies these words to the Is- raelites’ escape from the dangers of the Red Sea, cannot be the true one, seems manifest from the context, and the following reasons: t. That the spoiling of the Evyptians, by the borrow- ing of their valuable goods, is mentioned just before, ver. 17. 2. ‘That the mention of it fol- lows very iniproperly, afier the relation of the drowning of their enemies ; for can any thing be more absurd than this reason, that, because they were happily escaped from the Red Sea, therefore they spoiled the Egyptians before they came to it? Sia rvze, therefore ver. 20. cannot relate to this first spoiling of the Egyptians, 3. At their departure from Egypt, when they went out, laden with the goods of their oppressors, there was ne hymn composed on that occasion, nor do we find any recorded in their history. But in the sense when { contend for, all is right and easy ; for after the account of the Egyp- tians being drowned, and that they were cast up from the bottom of the sea to the side where the Israelites were, it follows very naturally, that the dead bodies coming by this means in- to their power, they therefore spoiled them, & aero toxvatueny aoeSerc, i. e. stripped them, and took their arms trom them, which they most want- ed. And what confirms this is, that a hymna was actually composed and sung upon this sig- nal overthrow of their enemies: see note fol- lowing. 4. ‘Avi€pacer is not to be taken in the sense of /eaping, as Grotius seems to under- stand it, making it synonymous to oupigy, and LéanSa:, butis a metaphor taken from water is- suing from its source, or fountain; or rather, from the bubbles rising in boiling water. Our translation is too flat, when it barely renders cast them up; for the bodies rising in the act of drowning, are here, by a beautiful and expres- sive allusion, compared to bubbles rising in. boiling water: and the true sense is, that he made the bodies of the Egyptians rise up like bubbles from the bottom of the sea. In the sense of our version the reading should be é£- €pact. See 2 Maccab. i. 12. Ver. 21. For wisdom opened the mouth of the duinb, and made the tongues of them that cannot spear eloquent.) The ancient English versions read in the present tense, ** Wysdome openeth Igo the mouthe of the domme, maketh the tonges of the babes to speake ;”? which is the render- ing of Coverdale’s and the Geneva Bible, and may be considered as a judicious Epiphonema, or useful reflection, wherewith the author con- cludes the chapter, to shew the great power of God, that he ** who removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the under- standing of the aged, who leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools ; Job xii. 17, 20. can with equal ease make the dumb eloquent, and the mouth of babes and sucklings to chant forth Hosanna and _ praise. But I think this verse relates rather to the fore- going, and concerns the same persons: The sense, according to the original, and the Ori- ental versions seems to be, that the Israelites, who before were silent through fear of the E- gyptians, and were not, by the many former miracles wrought in their favour, induced to bless and praise God for them, upon a sight of the sudden and universal destruction of their enemies, from a sense of the danger which themselves had escaped, and out of gratitude for the unexpected spoils which they were pos- sessed of, sang unto the Lord, upon the happy occasion, that hymn of thanksgiving, or Eucha- ristical ode, which has been so justly celebrat- ed by all antiquity, which Archbishop Usher styles, ‘Omnium, quorum uspiam memoria extat, primum & antiquissimum :” * I willsing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed glorious- ly ; the horse and his rider shall be thrown into the sea :’? Which was seconded by Miriam the prophetess, and all the Israelitish women, with timbrels and with dances, Exod. xv. 1. And, according to Grotius, the children joined in, and completed the harmony, Comment. in loc, CHAP. SL Ture ArGuMENT.—The account of what wis- dom did for the Israelites after their depar- ture out of Egypt is continued. God’s different dispensations towards the Egyptians and the Is- raelites in the Wilderness are recited, and a parallel, or comparison drawn between the plagues whth which God smote the former, and the great mercies which he vouchsafed to the latter, even in the same instances. That the Egyptians were deprived of water, by the river and all their springs being turned into blood, by which plague great numbers died through thirst ; but the Israelites were supplied with THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Crap: Xi) the same element at the same time that the were afflicted, and afterwards, in @ more\ex. traordinary and miraculous manner, from the rock, which flowed like a stream, or river,‘and even followed them from place to place in: their travels through the wilderness. Ver. 3. QPHEY stood aguinst their enemies; and were avenged of their adversaries.) Such as the Amalckites, who fell upon those of the Israelites, who through weakness or fatigue could not keep up with the rest of the army, Deut. xxv. 18. and endeavoured to oppose their passage, and hinder their settlement in Canaan; the king of Arad, who attacked the Israelites as they passed that way; and took some of them prisoners, without any provocation, Numb. xxi. 1. Og, the king of Bashan, and Sihon, king of the Amorites, who were likewise the.aggres sors, and opposed their march: For in this sense we are to understand the place that thé Israelites did not act offensively till they were assaulted ; and thus the Arabic version takes if, ‘¢ Bellum contra se gerentibus restiterunt,” and duurouer is SO used in the best Greek writers: Ver. 4. When they were thirsty they called upon thee.] ‘This happened twice in the wilderness, at Rephidim they first murmured for wates, Exod. xvii. 1. and then at Kadesh, Numb. xy. But though this miraculous supply of water seems mentioned twice in this verse, thérets no necessity to suppose, that both these:timss arereferred to. There is the like repetition, Psal. Ixxviii. 16. which seems, according the rendering of the LXX, to relate tothe same miracle. See also Psal. cxiv. 3. One may often observe in this Book, and the like. may be said of Ecclesiasticus, and the Book of Proverbs, that the same sense is frequently-¢x- pressed in two periods, or members of the same verse, with no other difference, but a variation of the phrase. This observation will be ‘fouad not without its use ; but there are two others in this chapter, which it may be proper to.men- tion, as being more material, and even neeés- sary, for the right understanding this book, atid may indeed be considered as the vety keys ef it, at least of the remaining part: We have-the first in the next verse, ‘ That by what.things the Egyptians were punished, by the same the Israelites, in their need, were benefited ;?? whieh parallel is almost constantly pursued,, ».ame strongly drawn, by way of contrast or opposts tion, to acquaint us, as it were, in. one vie with the joint history of those people, and Cnap. XT. respective dealing with each of them: The se- cond is in ver. 16. viz. ** Wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same also shall he be punish- ed ;?? which aphorism, well weighed and at- tended to, will be of great service for unravel- ling and explaining the ten plagues in parti- cular, and the reason why God chose to afflict that people with them, rather than with any other. Ibid. And water was given them ont of the JHinty rock.| It is not without good reason that water is said to be given to the Israelites from the rock. That this miracle is mysterious, is evident from the circumstances related of it: for if there had been no other design but the relieving their necessity, that might have been supplied by rain from heaven ; or if only a vi- sible effect of the divine power was intended to have been displayed, that had been as easily discovered, in causing new springs to rise from the earth: but Israel was not supplied with water from the clouds or the vallies, but from the rock. Hence therefore learned men have drawn a parallel between the rock and Christ: 1. Because a rock is the ordinary title of God in Scripture, and in a special manner it resem- bles Christ ; Psal. cxviti. 22. 1 Pet. ii. 7, 8. 2, It was the Son of God, the Angel of his pre- sence, the Conductor of his people, that then spake to Moses, and stood upon the rock, to signify the relation it had to himself, Exod. xvii. 6, 3. The Apostle himself so explains it, They drank of that spiritual Rock which fol- lowed them, and that rock was Christ,” 1 Cor, x. +. See Bates’s Harmony, p. 438. Ver. 6. For instead of a fountuin of a perpetual runmng river.| ‘Ari wiv anys aerate odleus. Mnyi ‘wélaus is not a very usual expression, and seems to relate, if it be the true reading here, to the source or fountain-head of the Nile, the river here intended ; for thus much must be allowed, that the ancients enquired after nothing more than the fountains of the Nile; see Stephan, Dict. Histor. Geograph. in voce Nitus. And Strabo and other Greek writers constantly use the word onyi in speaking of them, and even whole treatises have been wrote concerning them ; and when any streams are corrupted, it . 4s natural to ascribe the fault to the corruption of the fountains whence they flow, though per- haps the accident proceeds from some other cause. There may also be, possibly, an allusion ain this expression to the fountain and river in the wilderness ; for the place where the water issued from the rock in Horeb, was, in the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 121 strictest sense, anyi acJauv ; and indeed the stream flowing thence is expressly called by the LAX mnyaivdaror, Psal. cxiv. 8. See also Joseph. An- tiq. lib. ili.c. 1. And the stream that followed (as St Paul words it,) the Israelites in the desart wherever they went (or, as some conjecture the fact, they followed the river which way soever God directed its course, whereby he ordered their journies as he pleased,) was to them air- vaos wdjxucs. In allusion, I say, to this stream in the wilderness, any? afwvacs may here perhaps be ascribed to the Nile. The Arabic version ap- plies atvav to anys, and renders, “ Pro fonte fluminis abundé manante ;” i. e. instead cf a clear and perpetual running spring, they were troubled with a river foul with blood. But as all the other versions join this epithet to adzv3, and as the opposition lies not between what the Tiver was in its natural state, and after it was turned into blood, but between the Egyptians being deprived of water, and the Israelites sup- plied with it, in the same miraculous manner, and, which is of great moment in the present enquiry, by the very seif-same instrument ; I am more inclined to think, that the true reading of this passage is, o/7i uty oanyie ceva claus, see Exod. vii. 20. where the text says, that “ he (Moses) lift up the rod and smote the waters that were in the river, and all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood.” Is is no less observable, that the same rod was the immediate instrument in the other miracle, viz. in supplying the Israclites with water; for the Scripture is very full and explicit in this point, “ And the rod wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand and go—And thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come out water ;” Exod. xvii. 5,6. This conjecture is confirmed likewise by the context, particularly ver. 5. which manifestly alludes to the rod that struck both the Nile and the rock, and may be equally applied both to the cause and to the etfiect. To establish this further, I shal] shew upon what account this river may be styled airace wands : I. ‘Aévacs is applicable to it, as it is a com- mon epithet of a river. Instances of this may be found in the classic writers; Horace, par- ticularly, thus describes the perpetuity of its course, Rusticus expectans dum defluit amnis ; at ille Labitur, && labetur in omne velubilis evum. Epist. lib. i. ep. 2. In opposition to brooks that often dry up. and have little or no water in them. ‘Thus Calmet expounds this term, Comment. in loc. Besides Q 122 this general reason, may not the river Nile in particular be so called: 2Zy, As being, in the opinion of many learned men, one of the four rivers of paradise, originally called Gihon, Gen. ii. 13. and as such, may be considered, in pot of time, as a perpetual running river. 3¢/y, The Nile may be termed aénaoe alanis, as anever-fail- ing river, its fountain being never dry, but its streamscontinually fed, thoughinacountry where it seldom or never rains ; and.though its source remained concealed, yet its supplies were con- stant, and, as it were, miraculous. Hence the Phoenicians, Canaanites, Syrians, Greeks, and other travellers into Egypt, had a notion that God himself supplied Egypt with these sur- prising and never-failing waters: And hence Homer probably calls the Nile, Asizdli¢ aelauic, Fluvius @ Deo missus, i. e. a river sent and maintained by God; Odyss. A. yer. 581. Strabo gives it the same title, lib. xvii. And indeed the Egyptians represent this constant miracle by the symbol of a river flowing out of the mouth of the sun, the known and fixed image of God among them. 4thly, The Nile may be called aévacc, as being, according to the Egyp- tian notion, perpetual a parte ante, for they es- teemed water to be the very origin and prin- cipal of all things, and on that account they worshipped it; the Nile in particular is some- times termed, Zeve “Ayu7tioc, and therefore God smote it in the first place. And thus Philo, ‘“Primum ab aqua Deus peenas infligit, prop- terea, quod, cum aquam supra modum Aégyptii colerent, originem rerum omnium & principium esse statuerent, €am primum equum ésse puiavit, ad eorum castigationem advocare.” De Vita Mosis. Lastly, May not this very ancient and celebrated river, by Juvenal called the river, by way of eminence, Sat. xv. be considered as aévaes, in contradiction to the occasional water in the wilderness, which then first existed, and at length ceased to flow? [But, after all, aonyi; ewvas odjaus May mean no more than water ; in which signification it is often used by tra- gedians, and other poets,whose style and manner this author imitates quite through his work. Ibid. ... Atiwer troubled with foul blood, for a manifest reproof of that commandment whereby the infunts were slain.} i, e. God changed the waters of the Nile, which before was a clear running stream, into a discoloured and foul water, or ra- ther a sort of stagnating blood, wholly unfit for the Egyptians use, Our author seems to re- present the river as turned into real blood, at ance to exemplify and. chastise the crime of THE BOOK:OF WISDOM. Cuat.:Xhj) drowning the Hebrew infants therein. See:Q. rigen and Theodoret in. cap. vii. Exod. The latter expressly says, “ Hanc plagam ntulir. Deus propter pueros Judzorum in acquis im: mersos ; fluvius enim mutatus in sanguinem conqueritur de cade puerorum per eos com. missa :”” i. es This plague God brought upor them for the children that were drowned ;., the river thus turned into blood complained of that slaughter.” Coverdale’s version is to. the same purpose, “ Unto the enemyes thou gayest man’s bloude instead of lyvinge water ;” which is a literal translation of the Vulgate, “ Pro fonte sempiterni fluminis humanum sanguinem dedisti injustis.”” St Austin De miraculis Scriptura, and other ancient writers, mention what is e- qually surprising, that the springs and fountains themselves were likewise so affected and changed, that if an Egyptian dug for fresh water, what issued forth from the earth was like actual blood from a wound. Philo’s account is nearly, ,the same, “* Una cum mari cruentantur lacus, fossz, alvei, rivi, putei, fontes, universa in AX gyp aquz vis, aperteeque humoris. vene velut, in pro- fluvio sanguinis, cruoris torrentes emitterent.” De Mose, lib. i. But others think, that this.ca- lamity extended only to that part of the river, or those waters that were nigh the court of Pharaoh; for if this plague was universal, the magicians could have had no place to practise their skill in, and effect the like. See Jackson's works, That such bloody and foul water should breed distempers in the Egyptians, and be even poisonous to them is no wonder; but Josephus adds, that this was particular to the Egyptians, for the water was wholesome to the Israelites, and, with respect to them, retained its own nature and usual sweetness, Antiq. lib,,, ih cap. 14. ag . Ibid. Thou gavest them abundunce of water by a means which they hoped not for. God gave- the Israelites drink in a barren and uninhabited desert, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is; and this he did from a solid.and unpromiis- ing rock, The Israelites, according to Josephus,. Antiq, lib. iii. cap. 1, ‘* Had conceived a,n0- “tion from Moses’s mentioning water out fo “ the rock, that dry and wearied as they .werfi. a way was to be cut by them through,the rock for the water, which gave them mpte “ uneasiness than the thoughts of the .cooling refreshment gave them pleasure... But when, “ upon the striking of the rock with the rod of Moses only, a Jarge stream of water forthwith: * followed, they praised. God. for giving bem - Cuap. "XI. gedfupiav we tamsSacay.” An expression not very unlike our author’s. And to encrease the mi- racle, this crystal stream not only refreshed them for that time in their distress, but even followed them in- their journey. The Jewish rabbins are very fond of the conceit, that the rock itself followed them ; but others, to soften this prodigy, more wisely assert, that the water from the rock became a river, and flowed after the camp. The reasons for this opinion are, 1, That from the time of this flow of waters from the rock at Horeb, until they came to Kadesh, the Israelites are not said ever to have wanted water, which they must have continually stood in need of, and indeed perished for want of in their passage through the wilderness, if God had not thus miraculously supplied them. 2. Some expressions in the Psalms seem to im- ply, that a river from the rock attended them from place to place in their journeyings, Psal. Ixxvili. 16, 17, 21. cv. 40. 3. St Paul says, that they “ drank of the rock which followed them,” 1 Cor. x. 4. which the best interpreters agree in expounding of the water that flowed from it, and went along with them. See Pool, Whitby, Hammond in loc. and Usher’s Annals ad A. M. 2513. The rendering of the Syriac version of this passage is very particular and remarkable, “ Quibus & aquam dedisti in op- tima illa-vita, que non deficit, [who seems to have read areanrrec Core instead of aveaniswc] al- luding probably to that living water, John iv. 14. which our Saviour promises to all the faithful, which “ shall be in them a well of water spring- ing up into everlasting life.” In like manner this miracle has been a'legorized by the fathers, and is, according to them, a visible representa- tion of the overflowings of grace; for Christ is the true rock from whence issue those waters of life, which quench the thirst of his people, dur- ing the weary steps they take im the wilderness of this mortal life. Ver. 8. Declaring by that thirst then how thou hadst punished their adversaries.) contrast or comparison is carried on here, and in the verse foregoing, between the thirst of the Egyptians, occasioned by their foul and distempered wa- ter, and that of the Israelites in the wilderness; the first was the just punishment of obstinacy and wickedness; the second was designed to prove and adinonish God’s chosen people. The sense of the whole verse is, that the Israelites perceived, by their thirst of a short continuance the different manner of God’s dealing with them and with the Egyptians ; the former he treat- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 193 ed with mercy and favour ; and the iatter with the utmost rigour and severity. St Austin ob- serves, that in this plague, ‘* Bibentibus erat exitium, non bibentibus poena ob silim quam sustinebat’—De Mirac. Scrip. ze. ‘* unto them that drank it was death, and unto them that drank not, it was a sore punishment on ac- count of their great thirst.” Philo says yet more expressly, @oaug de arboamray Ox ACG Um didbys ve agixpec, x. 7. a.** hominum siti enectorum mag- nus numerus acervatim jaccbat in triviis, non sufficientibus domesticis ad sepulture officia.”’ De Vita Mosis, lib. i. 7. e. ‘* a great number of persons, dead with thirst, lay by heaps in the streets, their servants or friends not being able or sufficient to bury them.” [Ver. 9. For when they were tried, albeit in mercy, Se, ExrespusSnear, natmep iv enter, SC. The beginning of this verse would have been much: clearer thus : “Ore 58 érerpacSnoar Sixouor, tv trécr at- Sevopueror Eyraoar wag by épyn xpiraperor aoebas acariCorlo $ Vor trezaoSucar, as it now stands, may belong to the Egyptians (who were the persons last mentioned) as well as to the Israelites; and xaimep does not seem to be of any use here’: And then to Sxam would be opposed asGes (as xli. 9.) to éy éaéer would answer é dpyn, to maidseve oueror, xpweuero. This, 1 say, would have been much clearer; but { do not say that the author wrote so, because I find the like oimnission of the same word ch. xviii. 25. and the accuracy of the genuine Greek writers is not to be look- ed for in this author.] Ibid. They knew how the ungodly were judged mn wrath and tormented.| "Eyresay was tv égyh xgwi- pevor aoeGas acaito}o, 1 think the rendering of Coverdale’s and the ancient English versions far preferable : ** When they were taxed with fatherly mercy, they knowledged how the un- godly were judged, and punished thorow the wrath of God.”” The Geneva Bible is to the same effect, “ when they were chastised in mercy, they knew how the ungodly were judg- ed, and punished in wrath,” tr épy7 CacariQorfo, which is the better construction. ‘* Judged in wrath,”’ as our version has it, seems to carry a reflection upon the equity of God’s proceed- ings. Phe Oriental versions understand it in like manner, and render accordingly. ibid. Thirsting in another manner than the judge.) The different effect of their thirst suf- ficiently appears from the description in ver, 8. that of the Israelites being only troublesomé fora time, but the other was dangerous and fatal. ‘The Greek, Vulgate, and al! the an- Q ~ 124 cient versions entirely omit this sentence in this place. Our translators seem to have inserted it here, to illustrate this verse, and specify the torment: It is fetched from ver. 14. in the Va- tican copy, (the 15th in Grabe’s edition,) where it certainly is very improperly placed, as ha- ving no manner of relation to the context. So that one cannot but wonder how all the copies and versions should conspire, as it were, in this mistake, and our translators alone be so saga- cious as to find it out, and restore this dislo- cated passage to its proper place. Though it would not come in amiss at the end of the Sth verse, reading only &Liser)ac, instead of Sn} toarhs, Ver. 10. Dor these thou didst admonish and try as @ futher, but the other as a severe king thou didst condemn and punish.] When the Israelites were chastised, their trial continued but a short time, and God never entirely withdrew his mercy: and loving-kindness from then; even their chastisement was tempered with tender- ness.” But the Egyptians were loaded with mi- series without intermission ; for after having harrassed them with ten successive plagues, which terminated in the death of their first- born, God at length drowned the whole army of Pharaoh at once in the Red Sea. This dis- tinction, and the different manner of God’s act- ing, is well expressed here under the respective images of an indulgent father, and an inexora- ble king: And the opposition is no less beau- tifully preserved in the terms @oxsuacae and Siracec. As the former implies kindness and respect, so the latter signifies the extremity of punishment, the putting a man to the rack, and examining him by torture. And thus it is used by this author, ch. i. 9. ii. 19. iv. G. vi. 4. and in the Book of KEcclesiasticus, ch. xvi. 292. ch. xxiii. 10. The Comment of Messieurs du Port Royal has a judicious and useful reflec- tion upon this passage, ‘¢ That we may hence learn with what patience and thankfulness the just ought to bear the evils which happen to them in this life; for though calamities are common to them with the wicked, yet the rea- son of sending them is infinitely different : God sends afflictions to good men as a tender father, who chastises his children because he loves them ; but with respect to the wicked, they are to be considered as the Just punish- ment of an abused master, or an enraged king, Comment. in loc. Ver. 11. And whether they were absent or pre= sent, they were vexed alike.| Some interpreters understand this, that whether the Egy ptians THE BOOK OF WISDOM. : Cuar. Xd, were present, or at a distance from the place, where Moses was, they were equally tormented... for there was this very remarkable difference be,, tween the miracles wrought by Moses, and those, of the magicians, that his.were permanent, and, extended over all the land of Egypt at the-same. - time. Moses no sooner orders frogs or locusts, but they appear at once, and cover the face.of, the whole country, so that the absent, as well. ag present, are equally incommoded by them ;. but, theirs were but of short continuance, and. disap. peared almost as soon ‘as produced ; and theie, influence went no farther than the spot where: the magicians themselves were. But the con. text seems rather to require the following sense, that the Egyptians were equally tormented in, the absence and presence of the Israelites,/ both, when they were in Egypt, and.atter they were delivered from it. When they were im Egypt, they were visited with ten different plagues.u, their account ; and after their departure thencey they were envious and uneasy ai the prosperity, of a people whom they hated and despised. EBut then it must have been avorjor 3.5 wapivlov : For dmorlec and wapir}ec, in the present context, must belong to the Egyptians, because of érpuyerfe:} Ver. 12. For a double grief came-upon them, and a groaning for the remembrance of things past.) Aura » autes ernCe avon, % sevaduos empire, @wasertucor. The true rendering is, ‘“ Grief ang groaning came upon them doubly (for Siras,-sail. #30, seems here to be used adverbially ) upon;the remembrance of things past.” Our translation expresses this ambiguously, it seems as if one member of the sentence was wanting; but the ancient English versions quite mistake the sens¢ of the passage; for can any. thing be morejfo- reign to it, than the rendering ot Coverdale’s and the Geneva bibles? ‘* Theyr grefe . was double ; namely, mournynge, and the remem: braunce of thynges past.” Or Sera may be'ua; derstood, not numerally, to signify a precise numy ber, but as a Hebraism, that great grief and con- cern fell on them, upon the recollection of. things” past. Junius seems to have translated it-not amiss, ‘ Duplex eos occupavit dolor & gemitus, rerum preteritarum recordantes.” And thus Calmet, “ Ils trouvoient pour eux yn. double. sujet de peines, & de larmes, en se souvenant du passé.” “ Their first grief,” says he, “was their reflection upon their past plagues, . their want of water, the death of their cattle, and that more lamentable one of their first-born. .Their second cause of grief and concern was:the con- sideration of the happiness of the Israelites since Cuap. XI. their going out of Egypt, and God’s merciful dealing with them in the wilderness. The first arose from a shame of being seen in such dis- tressed circumstances by a people whom they despised ; and the latter, through a jealousy of the happiness of that people, through Gad’s fa- vour was possessed of.” Comment. in loc. [The place is certainly faulty : For yrmpov ray wapryooy is unintelligible, and cannot signify for or upon the remembrance of things past, which would have been urine ror wapendiiJor, as the Alexand. MS. and Camplut. edit. read the Jast word : And it was obvious enough to change osune into the plural wmysr, when a participle plural followed. This, Lbelieve, is the true read- ing, because of the authority of the Alexand. MS. otherwis2 I should have preferred sirayuie wepyaray ray oy yoo Ver. 13. When they heard by their own punish- ments the other to be benefited, they had sume feel- ing of the Lord.) Our version is somewhat ob- scure; the meaning is, * When they understood the Israelites to be assisted and refreshed with a supply of such things, as they were punished with the want of, and considered the different conduct of God towards his friends and enemies, they at length acknowledged his power, which before they disregarded, and were obliged to own that what had happened to them was from the avenging hand of God, and the effect of his enraged justice.” For the reason of this diffe- rent procedure with respect to the same thing, or element, was to exemplify to the world in ge- neral, and the Egyptians in particular, that God hath power over all his creatures to continue or alter them, to give or take away the use of them, from whom, or in what manner he pleases. Ver. 14. Fur whom they rejected with scori when he wus long before thrown out at the casting JSorth of the infunts, hin in the end, when they saw what came to pass, they admired.) t. e. That same Moses, who had been sometimes the subject of their raillery, whom they had treated with scorn and contempt in the execution of his mi- nistry, who had been formerly exposed and thrown into the river by the cruel order of Pha- raoh, and from a happy escape thence received his name, in the end cominanded their wonder and admiration by the power of lis miracles, which declared him to-be the favourite of hea- ven, the ruler of nature, and the god of Pharaoh. And it is the opinion of some writers, that even among the Egyptians, Moses was honoured, af- ter death with religious veneration. Eusebius, THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 125 from the authority of Artapanus, says expressly, that he was honoured among that people ioztis riats, Preepar. Evang. lib. ix. Cyril. cont. Jul. hb. i. Tenison on Idolatry. Our version of this place is obscure ; it represents the Egyptians ri- diculing Moses when he was flung into the ri- ver ; which scoffing, though it may well be sup- posed true in general, yet is not particularly ap- plicable to Moses at that time: It is better there- fore, and more agreeable to truth, to understand this of him in his public character, and in his employment, as God’s messenger to Pharaoh, areroy xatvacersc, Was often true. I think there- fore the sense would be more determinate and clear, if part of the first sentence was in- cluded in a parenthesis, thus ty 5% (ér éxbéoer wance figivia) amarey yrevalovleg, evi rénes trav txCactwy Mauna car i.e. * him, whom they rejected with scorn, (that same Moses who was long before thrown out with the rest of the children) they in the end admired, &c.” For it was a remarkable instance of providence, as well as matter of great’ surprise to the Egyptians, that he who was’ thrown into the river should be the instrnment of turning that river into blood, and that the Is- raelites, seemingly an abandoned and forsaken people, should be so wonderfully succoured and preserved. [Ibid. When he was long before thrown out.} "gy ixbicer wanes fipivla, &e. 1 take these words to contain and express the subject or matter of their xavazuic, OF pocose mochery, (NOt scorn, as our version hath it) and therefore not to be put in a. parenthesis. 1 would translate it thus: ‘ For whom they rejected with mockery, as a-fellow formerly thrown out, when the infants were ex- posed, him in the end,”’ ge. This circumstance of the Egyptian’s raillery and jokes upon the outcast Moses, seems to be a_ fiction (though not an improbabie one) of the author himself ; for I think there is nothing of this mentioned in the history.]} [Ver. 15. But for the foolish devices of their wickedness, whereby being decewed they worship- ped serpents void of reason.j ‘Av]i % royizuay aovi~ sey, &c. This answers to ver. 6. avfi wiv onyis, &c. God, by way of punishment tor the folly and iniquity of the Egyptians, permitted the: to fall into the most ridiculous idolatries, to a- dore even crocodiles and venomous serpents. Jupiter in Lucian says, that the Egyptian gods were aisxpc % yerosrepx, “ filthy and more ridicu- lous than the gods of other nations.” De Con- cil. Deorum. And it is cbservable, that their #26 deities are called not only by the fathers, but by the poets, portenta instead of numina. Thus Ju- venal : : ; Quis nescit qualia demens . LE gyptus portenta colat ? Sat. Xvi. And Virgil pays them no greater compliment when he calls them Omnigentimque Detim monstra. /En. lib. viii. ver. 698. Origen has the like charge against the Egyp- tians, and exposes some of their favourite deities with much pleasantry. ‘* When you approach,” says he, “ their sacred places, they have glori- ous groves and beautiful chapels, temples with magnificent gates and stately porticos, and many mysterious and religious ceremonies ; but ‘when once you are entered, and got within their ‘temples, ‘you shall see nothing but a cat, an ape, or a crocodile,-a goat or a dog, worshipped with the most solemn veneration.” Orig. cont. Cels. lib. iii. lian says, that serpents among the -Egyptians riuorJas iexugas, are zealously worship- ped, that they are kept in their houses, and be- come so tame, that even among their children they are innocent and inoffensive. He describes their (atibula, diet, and the manner of feeding . them, and shews, in many instances, the great care taken of them, and the particular regard paid to.-them ; lian. lib. xvii. Hist. Animal. cap. 5. Philo is very express as to the croco- dile in particular, "Ey Aiyum|e 70 arbewareSopor % Sn- piov apyancwralor xpoxoderrce, x. T. A. 1. €. * The cro- codile, which devours men, and is the fiercest of animals, is bred in the sacred river Nile, and a- bounds in those parts where he is worshipped by the natives.” Fragm. Philon. tom. ii. p. 646. Juvenal, to expose the superstition of the Egyp- tians, very ludicrously describes a fierce con- test between the inhabitants of two neighbour- ing towns about the superior honour of a ser- pent or an ape, Sat. xv.; and Tully, amongst the monstrous objects of their worship, reckons “ Crocodilos, Aspidas, Serpentes.” De Consol. See note on c. xv. 18. Herodotus speaks of icpoi ous, Or sacred serpents about Thebes, which, when they were dead, were buried by the su- perstitious with great pomp in the temple of Jupiter. Herod. in Euterpe. It is certain, that in the Egyptian hieroglyphics no symbol was more frequent than that of a serpent. See Orus Apollo. Many reasons are assigned by the learned for the particular honour paid to ser- pents, as because they can twine and turn themselves into all shapes ; hence probably call- ed cxorwi ops by our author, c, xvi. 5. and be- THE BOOK OF. WISDOM. Cuap. XI) cause they enjoy, as it were, perpetual youth, by annually casting their skin, and therefore not improperly made the symbols of life and health in Egypt and other countries: But these, how. ever plausible for their being.made symbolicaj representations, are not sufficient reasons for their worship, which more properly owes its orj- ginal to the subtlety and artifice of. the devil; for it is his favourite stratagem, his darling en. gine, to deceive mankind under this form, en. couraged, no doubt, by the fatal success of his first attempt upon Eve in this borrowed shape, Nor is this true only of the Egyptians, but, wherever the devil reigned, the serpent. was had in some peculiar veneration. See Stillingfleet’s Orig. Sac. B. iii. c. 3. +8 Ibid. And vile beasts.| Tully observes of the: Egyptians, that they consecrated almost every kind of beasts : “* Omne fere genus bestiarum Egyptii consecrarunt.” - De Nat. Deor.'lib. iii, But the sacred animals which they principally regarded were, according to a learned writer, these that follow; viz. The serpent, the beetle, the hawk, the wolf, the lion, the goose, the cro- codile, the bull, the cat, the dog, and the.ba- boon. These, as being symbolical of their two principal deities, Osiris and Isis, they accounted sacred, and substituted them in the place of their deities.” Shaw’s Travels, p. 397. At first, as Plutarch thinks, they did not directly wor- ship these, but adored the Divinity that was te- presented in and by them. But though itis certain that the Egyptians chose at first the fi- gures of beasts for the symbols or hieroglyphi- cal signs of their gods, yet itis as certain that at length their worship came to be terminated io them ; for as they worshipped their Jupite Ammon under the figure of a ram, their Anubis under that of a dog (from whence Virgil calls him Latrator Anubis), and their Apis under that of a bull or ox; so in time, at least among the vulgar, who considered not sufficiently the in- tention of these symbols, these representations were esteemed as real and original deities them- selves. Lucian’s account of the introduction of these animals into their theology is very extr- ordinary, and even ludicrous, “* That in the wars between the gods and the giants, the for- met, for safety, fled into Egypt, where they: as- ‘sumed the bodies of beasts and birds, which : they ever after retained, and were accordingly worshipped and reverenced in them, etsét: 4 av! guaarlecSa: ras Tere Hoppa rei¢ Seoie.” De Sacrifi- ciis. Grotius thinks the original of this practice of worshipping beasts came from hence, Vit Crar. XI. that the stars were by astronomers cast into the forms and shapes of particular beasts, and great benefits were supposed to be received from their influence. Explicat. Decal. And it must be confessed, indeed, that many of the animals, of which the stars bear the name, and to which, by a strong fancy, they were imagined to bear some resemblance, were honoured with a reli- gious veneration by the Egyptians, such as the bull, the ram, the goat, and the dog. The first of these animals, being their favourite Apis, the prophet Jeremiah takes notice of, c. xlvi. 15.5 and by a severe sarcasm, according to the ver- sion of the LXX, exposes the worship of it ; for he represents it as flying from the desolation of Egypt: And the question, Asa] tguysy a73 cv 6 "A- mu, 6 ueoxas & txrcxlic ov (Which is the reading likewise of the Arabic version) ; shews its ina- bility to assist others in distress, though by the Egyptians esteemed tic irapyésatec. See lian. De Animal. lib. xi. c. 10. Spencer, De Legib. Hebr. tom. ii. p. 848. The iast, viz. the dog, was the peculiar object of worship of a whole Fgyptian province, and was an animal reveren- ced and sacred from one end of Egypt to the other. This Juvenal means when he says, Oppida tota canem venerantur Sat. xv. And in the same manner the other Pagan wri- ters make themselves merry with the Egyptian superstitions. See note onc, xil, 24. xv. 1S. Wor can we, if more authorities were wanted, have a stronger instance of the very particular regard paid by the Egyptians to dogs, cats, and sheep, than what Prideaux mentions, viz. that Cambyses placed these in the very front of his army, when he tock Pelusium, as knowing them to be sacred to, and honoured by thein. Connect. vol. ii. p. t+. in not. Ibid, Thou dids? send a multitude of unreason- able beusts [or irrutional animals] upon them for vergeance.] The author of this book mentions elsewhere, c. xvi. 1. beasts being sent among the Egyptians as instruments. of vengeance ; though no express inention is made of this in Excdus, or any part of Scripture. Indeed, in * Exod. c. vill. 21. where the text reads, ** Be- hold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee,” the margin has. it, “a mixture of noisome beasts ;” and the Chaldee paraphrase on [sal. xviii. 4.5. renders more explicitly, ‘ a mixed multitude of vile beasts of the field.” [Swarms of flies are indeed dacya oz, unreasonable beasts, or brutes, which acquits the author from any suspicion ofa mistake.] The Jews have a no- tion, as appears from the Author of the Life THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 129 and Death of Moses, quoted by Bishop Patrick in loc. that God sent lions, wolves, bears, and leopards, and such like furious beasts, which killed not only their cattle in the field, but their children in their houses; which seems likewise to be the opinion of Josephus, who, among the Egyptian plagues, reckons Suj/¢ ware deiz 8 worvrpooe. Antiq. lib. ii. c. 14. But as Bochart, De Muis, and other good writers, un- derstand these passages of scripture of swarms of flies only, so it is plain from what follows in our author, that vile beasts are not here to be understood, but rather frogs, locusts, and venomous flies. And thus Calmet renders, “ Des grenouilles, des mouches, des sauteretics, des poux.” Comm. in Joc. [ think therefore here, and in Rev. iv. 6. where there is the like mistake, Coz would be better rendered fving creatures than beasts; and so the same word is well translated, zek. i. 5. The reflection of Messieurs du Port Royal upon this cecasion is very just, and too fine to be omitted; L’? Homme abuse de la creature: i.e. * Man abused the creature to provoke God, and God made use of. the creature to punish man: He shewed his e- quity at the same time in proportioning the punishment to the crime, and his power in. making even the smallest, and otherwise the most despicable creatures, become formidable to man, which he can do with the greatest ease, when he pleases to make use of them as the instruments cf his vengeance.” Comm. in loc. Ver. 16. That they might know, that where- withal a man sinneth, by the same also shall he be punished.] In God’s government of the world, instances are very frequent where the nature of the sin, and the punishment attending it, have very remarkably answered to cach other. It would be almost infinite to transcribe profane history upon this occasion ; but it may not be unacceptable to exemplify the truth of this ob- servation in general, from the principal facts of this nature recorded in Scripture, nor improper to illustrate it from a survey of the plagues of Egypt in particular. To begin with the first sin, which, it is melancholy to observe, was ~ almost as early as the very existence of man: Adam eats of the forbidden fruit of the earth, and the curse of the ground was the punish- ment to him and all his posterity. The over- flowing of vice in the old world was miracu- lously punished with a deluge of waters ; and Sodom, that had burnt so long with unnatural lust, was at length consumed by fire and brim- 128 stone. Nadab and Abihu, for putting strange fire in their censers, were instantly struck dead in the tabernacle by fire from heaven. Samuel observed the like rule of justice and retaliation in the execution of Agag, pronouncing, * That as his sword had made woman childless, so should his mother be childless among women.” The adultery and homicide of David was re- venged by the incests and murders of his chil- dren ; and, because he gloried in the number of his people, he was punished with the loss of seventy thousand of them by pestilence. And the barbarous Adonibezek, who had cruelly dis- membered so many captive princes, met him- self at last with a suitable requital, and was treated in the same manner. Hezekiah’s va- nity in shewing his riches and treasures to the ‘embassadors of the king of Babylon, was re- quited with the threat, that all that he had thus proudly shewn, should one day be carried a- way into Babylon. The like return was made ‘to Saul, Goliah, Ahab, Jezabel, and Jehoiakim. See also Ezekiel xxxv. 15. Isaiah xxxiii. 1. Joel iil. 6, 7, 8 But this retribution, called avhrerorGsc, or the punishing like with lke, will be best and most appositely exemplified in the ‘history of the Egyptians in particular, where the connection between the crime and the pu nishment is visibly distinguishable in every one of the plagues. 1. God turned the river into blood, and thereby rendered its water not only useless, but unwholesome, to punish the death of the Hebrew infants thrown into it. 2. The disagreeable croaking of frogs through- out the land of Egypt, represents either the cries of the children, or the shrieks of the op- pressed Israclites. 3. The nastiness of lice was not only designed to chastise the effeminacy and luxury of the Egyptians, but, according to the Jews, was intended to punish them for em- ploying the Israelites in dirt and filth. 4. The stings of the venomous flies revenged their op- pression by cruel and painful tasks. 5. God destroyed their cattle by a murrain, because they had deprived the Israelites of their cattle, and had used them like beasts of burden. Or we may suppose this plague to be inflicted for their worship of beasts. 6. The boils on the Egyptians themselves from head to foot, repre- sented the marks of cruelty upon the flesh of the Israelites by their blows and scourges. 7. God revenged their reproaches, insults, and menacing language, by lightnings, strange hail, and thunders, which the Hebrew, and the LX X style the voices of God, and the Chaldee para- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Crar. Xi, phrase very expressly, Tonitrua Maledictionis, 8. As they robbed and deprived the Israelites of their wages, the locusts in return eat up afl the fruit of their ground. 9. The Egyptiais kept the Israelites close prisoners, and God con fined them as remarkably by that: thick dark. ness which would not permit them to stir. 10, They evil entreated God’s first-born, his chosen people, for a long time ; and God destroyed all their first-born in one moment. In the Jew- ish writings there are many examples, in which the vengeance of God has discovered itself in a manner and way adapted and suited to the very crimes. See eae 2 Maccabees ix, 5,6. and chap. iv. 24. 32. or is the connec. tion less visible in the history of the church, and its persecutors. ry. Ver. 17. For thy almighty band that made the world of matter without form.] The author seems to intimate by this expression, that God created the world out of pre-existent matter ; and pos- sibly he may speak this according to the opinion of the Platonists, who held not any temporal creation of the world in the strict and proper sense of that word, but the production of its form only from formless Hylé, which they-called axosuiay, or shapelessness. Plato, speaking of the almighty Snurspyoe, says, ee rok avre Hyoyer te rig aragiac. In TVimeeo. But Chalcidius, in his commentaries upon this piece, after a great deal of learned pains taken to search out the true meaning of Plato concerning the origin of Hylé, thinks him to mean, not only the bringing of matter into form, but the original production of matter itself. Chalcid. in Tim. p. 377. Allow- ing therefore Plato to assert a pre-existence -of rude matter before the formation of the world; yet he may be understood in the same sense that we believe a chaos to have gone before the bringing the world into the order it is now in, Our author therefore, though in this sentiment he should transcribe Plato, may, and probably does mean, that God at first created all matter out of nothing, which in the beginning was tobu ve bobu, i. e. without form, and void, as our vet- sion has it; but in the Hexaémeron, “ God gave every thing its form, and ranged and placed them in the order we now see them.” And this the writer to the Hebrews seems to mean, when he says, “ That the worlds were made by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were made,” ix en gauvoutrwr, Heb. xi 3.0Fr rather, ux crlwy, as the writer of the second book’ of Maccabees more fully expresses it, c, vii. 28 For this, as it conveys a higher idea of God’s ” Crap. XI, omnipotence, s0 is it likewise more agreeable to the scope of the argument; for the reasoning in the following verses, we may observe, proceeds a majori ad minus, that if God could create the world out of nothing, and stamp beauty. upon the rude chaos, he might with much more ease make any part of -the creation fulfil his vindic- tive will, or even create new instruments of his wrath on purpose. Ibid. Wanted not méans to send among them a multitude of bears or fierce lions.| “ God did not punish the obstinacy of the Kgyptians all at once, but by degrees and intervals, that he might evidence his mercy, even in the pouring forth of his wrath and fury, and the desire he hath that lesser chastisements might prevent greater, and exterminating judgments. It was us easy for God to have sent at first lions to have destroyed them utterly, as to send the flies and frogs by way of a timely warning; but he re- strains the course of his wrath, and contents him- self at first to inflict a lighter punishment, to the end that men, being aftrighted with those timely and more favourable strokes, may judge how intolerable it will be to bear the extremity of his wrath, and to drink the dregs of the cup of his fury. But when he meets with hearts altoge- ther hardened, he makes them pass through all the degrees of his anger; he is forced by their impenitence to proceed to extremity, and to be as firm in his justice, as they are in their obsti- nacy.” Royaumont’s Hist. Bib. Philo, who often imitates our author, has likewise some useful reflections upon this place, tows ric éxirfnoere Sid ri rote STW aparécs % HaeAnsérols Caorg érimaparo Ti xapar, wees apx]us 4 atovjag' x. 7. a.1. e. “ Perhaps some may enquire why God punished Egypt with so small and despicable animals, passing by bears and lions. The answer is, 1. That God designed to correct the inhabitants of that place, rather than quite destroy them ; for if he had intended the latter, he never would have made use of such small, and seemingly insigmificant creatures, as his instruments, but rather famine, or the pestilence, which are scourges from heaven, and carry a sweeping desolation along with them. 2. The different manner of God’s pro- cedure from that of his creatures is hence dis- cernible; for when men go to war to revengg¢,an in- jury, they form the strongest alliances, and such as are able to assist them with the most powerful succours, and to strengthen their weakness most effectually : but God. who is the Supreme power, and all-sufficient for his own great purposes, if at any time he makes use of instruments of ven- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. r20 geance, does not chuse the greatest, or the strongest, being indifferent as to the natural powers of the creatures ; but he gives to small, and otherwise feeble things, a superior and un- controulable force, and by them more surprts- ingly punishes the wicked. For what is more despicable than lice? and yet such was their avenging power, as to subdue the Egyptians, and even extort a confession from the mavicians themselves, that this was the finger of God.” Phil. de Mose, vol. ii. Edit. Mangey. Ver. 18. Or unknuen wild beasts full of rage newly created.] [Neoxiisss Suvs, the true reading is vox]ise.] ‘Lhis may either mean beasts of an uncommon kind, aud of.a fierceness hitherto unobserved, or beasts that have unusual venom, or in a greater degree; for so Supie is often used ; see c. xvi. 5. and thus Calmet urder- stands it, ** Des béres dune espece inconue, pleine dune furcur toute extraordinaire, ou d’un venin nouveau.”? Comm. in Loc. The Vulgate renders, ‘* Novi generis ira plenas ig- notas bestias,” which may take in any, or all the foregoing senses. Ibid. Breathing out either a fiery vapour, or Silthy scents of scattered smoke, or shuoting horri- ble sparkles out of thew eyes.) Our version follows a copy which read Bpouys, felthy scents ; [and ampouére for amuouéres] but Calmet thinks Bpouer, Which other copies retain, the true read- ing, and understands it of sinoke, flung out with great fofce and much noise, like that which is thrown out from mount Vesuvius, or that which the poets have feigned to issue from some fabulous animals, who are described by them as throwing fire with a roaring noise out of their meuth and nostrils: but should vot the reading then be # Bpéuo amyouing xamriv, oF ‘© with a mighty noise puffing out smoke ?” {The Alexand. MS. (and Complut edit.) reads Breuer, 1. €. Beoucr, foetorem, the letter o being put for a, as is usual in that MS ; and Complut. has axyouérs instead of ampouéws: both winch | believe, are the only true readings, 9 Bedpor ate Kouins xem, ** or a stink of smoke,” i. e. Bpouddn xwmrev, *¢ stinking smoke,” violently thrown out. For stink (f;ou0¢) without doubt would be a greater plague and punishment than noise (4péuec.) The description here of imaginary beasts formed for destruction, which is very poetical, is not unlike that fine one of the tevi- athan in the book of Job, with this difference only, that those cirenmstances of terror which are here given to this or that particular species of beasts, are all united in him “ who can open R 13Q the doors of his face, his teeth are terrible ronnd about, by his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning: out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out: out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething caldron ; his breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth ; in his neck lodgeth strength, and sor- row is.turned into joy before him.?? Where the rendering of the LXX is observable, and conveys a more lively idea of terror, tumpocSer wule a polotrer amonea, i. €. ** before him marches destruction. Behold, the hope of him is in vain ; shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?” chap. xli. 9, 18, 19, 20, 21. Ovid’s description, which has been much ad- mired, comes far short of the inspired writer in the sublimity of the sentiments : Ecce Adamanteis Vuleanum naribus efflant fEripedes Tauri, tacteque vaporibus herbe -Ardent— Metam. |, vii. “Ver. 20. Yea, without these might they have Sallen down with one blast, being persecuted of vengeance, and scattered abroad through the breath of thy power.] Armpnbérlec vd arevducilos Suvd pede ow" i.e, ‘* by one pestilential blast of air,”:as it is generally understood ; or it may be rendered in a higher sense, ‘* by the Spirit of thy power, or the powerful ‘enue, the Spirit of the Al- mighty.”? See the note on chap. v. 23. The sentiment according to the common accepta- tion, is very grand and magnificent, that God could have created beasts on purpose for ven- geance, whose very looks, even without their violence or poison, should have scattered death ; and with more ease could he have destroyed the Egyptians by a look, a word, a blast. And thus he destroyed the formidable army of the Assyrians ; for when all things seemed despe- rate, and the enemies of Jerusalem thought themselves just masters of it, God sends his blast, and instantly a ‘* hundred fourscore and five thousand become dead corpses ;”’ Isa. xxxvi. 7, 36. The Psalmist has finely express- ed this, by ‘* the blasting of the breath of God’s displeasure ;” Psal. xviii. 15. which in- cludes at once, what our author hath expressed in both these sentences. Job, whom this writ- er seems often -to imitate, expresses himself concerning the desolation of the wicked in like manner; ‘* Vhey that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness,:by the blast of God perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed,” chap. iv. 8,9. By any of these means might the Egyptians have perished, being persecuted THE BOOK OF WISDOM. ‘ Cap. XR of vengeance, [rig Sian. see upon 1. 6.) and pursued by it, which the Vulgate understands; of the stings of their own’consciences,' $* perses cutionem passi ab ipsis factis suis ;” and. s¢ Coverdale renders, ‘* being persecuted of their awne workes.” But though God:.can usejalf; - or any of these extraordinary instruments, of vengeance, yet his known and ordinary way of dealing is to follow the impartial rules of ‘jus. tice, and to proportion his punishments to the nature and quality of men’s crimes. ae. Ibid. But thou hast ordered all things in. mea sure, and number, and weight.} This aphorism is very just, when applied to the beauty and harmony of God’s natural works ; but the con- text necessarily confines it to the government of the moral world, viz. that God’s wrath, in his dealings with the children of men, is nei ther rash nor hasty, inconsiderate nor excessive, fickle nor inconstant, groundless nor unjust,’ that of his creatures too generally is ; butt exercises his justice with the strictest imparti- ality, in measure, number, and weight, i. e. he considers the nature of the offence, and:.th heinousness of itsaggravations, and proportions, the duration and extent of his vengeance ac . cordingly. And as he acts not through pas sion, resentment, or hatred, his chastisements are always just, suited to the greatness of men’s faults, and the demerit of sinners. «It was:not therefore without good reason that the heathers have painted Jupiter with a pair of scales; in which he weighs and determines men’s respe tive destinies : Jupiter ipse duas equato examine lances Sustinet, &S fata imponit diversa duorum; tc. - ZEn, xit'g’ Ver. 22. For the whole world before thee is ds. little grain of the balunce.} As God?s fastice weighs all actions in an equal balance, so with respect to his power, the whole world may De . cons:dered as the most minute and inconsider- | able thing in it. The prophet Isaiah has the very same comparfson upon the like occasion which the LXX express almost in the same manner, o¢ fork Coys, ch. xl. 15. and it might as well have been expressed by the dust of the'be- lance here, as our version has it in that place. For as the nothingness of the world, if 1 may be allowed the expression, is placed here'in a colle trast with God’s infinite power, the niost ite considerable, the most “imperceptible ‘atoin.is properer to be mentioned, ‘than a‘little'ptail, or any. even the least ‘sensible weight) ’as the mergin has it, , Tas Cuap. XI. Ver. 93. But thou hast mercy upon alt, for thou canst do all things, and winkest at the sins of men because they shoal amend.| "Entcag 3? an)a¢; 314 ware Suvaser. “Orr should not be translated for, but because ; the meaning being here, that Almighty power is the cause or foundation of his unbounded clemency, as mercy is always the generous attendant upon real greatness. That this is the true sense, is plain from ver. 26. and ch. xii. 16. This mercy God offers to all, and suspends, for a time, the execution of his vengeance, to give them time and room for repentance ; [the words because they should a- mend, should be translated that they may amend, or repent} and when they do repent, for so Cal- met further understands these words, as a ten- der father, whose arms are always open to re- ceive the penitent and returning prodigal, he is ready to pardon all that truly turn to bim. It is a pious reflection of Messicurs du Port Royal, “ happy are those who rightly under- stand the infinite goodness of God, and im- prove the consideration of it to their great ad- vantage; for they who know it only so far as to abuse it, and lose sight of his justice, in the pleasing contemplation of his mercy, and there- by make it the occasion of sin, have great rea- son to fear, that his patience and forbearance, so often disregarded by them, will at length turn into rigour and severity, according to the accourt of the true Solomon, Prov.i. 26, 27, &c.” Ver. 24. For never wouldst thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it.] God did not make the world, or any thing in it, for the mere ex- ercise of his power, much less for the sport of his tyranny; but his goodness was the cause of the production of all things. God is an all-sufficient Being, perfectly blessed in him- self, nor was his essential felicity capable of any accession from the existence of any creature ; it was therefore, his free goodness only that moved him to create all things, that he might impart happiness to all his creatures. That notidn therefore is certainly not only ground- less, but cruel, which represents God from 4ll eternity decreeing some mer to endless and unspéakable torments, whom, according to this opinion, he must create with a formed design of making them unhappy, and falling, without any demerit, a sacrifice to his justice. This gloomy tenet of the Supralapsarians, as it is called, is inconsistent with scripture, which re- presents God ‘not only as loving all: his. crea- tures, emphatically, as love itself. How much juster, andtnore worthy of the great Creator is THE BOOK OF WISDOM. ¥3t thatsentimentof Pherecy des, eic pea udlabeCriisSar Tov Ala pérrorla Snurpyey, i. e. God transform? ed himself intodove when he made the world:” Ver.'25. How: could any thing have endured, if it-had not been thy will?] The same tender af- fection which at first inclined God to create things as they are, and to communicate his extensive goodness to the several orders of beings, moves him to preserve the things made by him, and to continue them in their original condition. For there is nothing which God has created, that is either so distant, so little, or so inconsiderable, which God does not in- spect and take care of, and, to speak in the language of a polite writer, which he does not essentially inhabit. And if the great Maker of all things should not be thus graciously dis- posed towards his creatures, if he should with- draw his over-ruling providence, there would not only be the greatest confusion, but an end of universal nature. Seneca assigns the true reason of the world’s continuance, ‘* manent cuncta, non quia eterna sunt, sed quia defen- duntur cura regentis.” Epist. Iviil. and the Psalmist, the cause of its decay, ‘‘ when thou hidest thy face, they are troubled ; when thou takest away their breath, they die and are turned again to their dust ;” Psal. civ. 29, “Ibid. Or been preserved, if not called by thee.] i.e. How could any thing have continued, if: thou didst not order it to continue? And thus the Syriac version understandsit, “ Quomodo conservarctur aliquid, nisi tu praeciperes ?” and Calmet, “ Quise pat conserver sans votre order?” Comm. in Loc. To call, when applied to God, is the same ag to create, ordain, command.— And thus St Paul uses the expression, Rom. iv. 17, “ God, who quickeneth the dead, calleth those things which benot,as though they were;” . i.e. he equally commands :the dead and the living. And the Psalmist, cxlvii. 4. “ he calleth themall by theirnames,” i. e. he commandsthem into his presence. [I believe the word xanfir is faulty, and that it should -be either gian%y or ‘Seanfer... If we consider the passage of St Paul, Rom. iv. 17. attentively, we shall find; that the meaning. of xaxre ra pit ovla, of ole, is, “ who speaketh of things that do not yet exist, as if they were actually existing: Because he knows that they will exist in their, due time, having already determined. that they shall. So in the.instance there mentioned, when he-said - tq!Abraham, L-have:made theea father of many nations, it was not true, humanly sneakin pb, at that time j.for Abraham ‘had theniyecehitd 2 132 ‘and was near an hundred yearsold. But God knew that it would be true afterwards.in its proper season, when he had quickened the dead, Abraham and Sarah (see Heb. -xi. i2, ‘19.) and enabled then) to beget Isaac, and from him and his posterity many nations, and us (saysSt Paul, ver. 16) amang the rest : And therefore: he spake of things not yet in being ‘( Lhave madethee,” &c.) as if they were at that time actually in being. As this interpretation is so obvious, and St Paul’s argumeut and rea- soning absolutely require it, it is wonderful that no commentator (at Jeast of those whom | have seeri) should have it upon it. The interpretation above given of Psal. cxlvii. 4. seems too Jax. The meaning of the whole verse, “ He telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names,” I take to be this: “ The number, of the stars, even to us, seems infinite, is perfectly known to-him; and he can’-call each single star by its name, as easily as we can the objects we are most conver- sant with,-or as a shepherd can each sheep in his flock.” For it is not improbable from the custom of the eastern nations, that this last cir- cunistance. was hinted at, and intended by the Psalmist ; which will make. a. beautiful and po- etical allusion, considering God as:a shepherd, and the ‘stars his, flock. See Dr Hammond .on John x. 4. ‘* He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.” The former part too of the verse, ‘“ He telleth the number of the stars,” may be considered as an allusion to the custom of 2 gee gD ‘< _ Ver. 26. Thou sparest all, fer they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls.] — eircuxoe, or lover of souls, is the highest character that can be given of God. To call bim gasCpaicc, or gintaany, a lover of Jews or Greeks, is, in comparison, a low and scanty denomination, as it expresses his care for only.a part of the species. See Burrow’s Works, tom. ii, p..208. Nay, even girarGpazac Atself, which is the most complex term, and takes in the genus of mankind, is not so amiable and perfect as giadtuyos, which includes his love and fenderness for the more valuable part ‘of. our nature. It is pretty observable, that God is no where in Scripture called gincyfiro, though even this character, if it was. predicated of God, would not, with respect to us at least, be so. adorable. But as God is said here to spare all, and to:be a fver of svuls without distinction, perhaps our guthor may allude to that command of God to. Moses, Exod. xxx. 12, 13, 14,15: that when they took, the sum or number of the people, THE BOOK OF ‘WISDOM. Cuar.s ‘every man so. numbered, froni twenty yeass/alg and upwards, should pay half a shekel»toothg: sanctuary, as 2 ransom for his soul to God, sum der the penalty of -a plague to ensue the: aq glect of such a payment ; which was'a .moét, easy and favourable capitation, ‘inasmuch: ag, when their lives were the forfeit of theinsing . to God, God inimercy thus accepted: a: small . ransom for them ;-and he accepted -an: equal ransom for the lives of the lowest .as :welligs the highest among them, as they were:alllof equal value in his sight, who careth for alkeat like. - CHAP. XIL Tus Arcument.—The author mentions fresh iy. stances of favour bestowed by God upon th Israelites, particularly in bringing “thet tp, anda settling them in the'land of Canaan, ‘}rath whence be drove out the old inhabitants fh . their barbarous and inhuman rites -of stot Sicing their children, and feasting ‘upon’ blot, te. by which the Hoty Lind was, defied, ' But unworthy as the Cauaan-tes were of ine? : God did not exterminate them at once,” kr i conduct tewards them was very grackous.. A Jrom God's slowness to take vengeance Coen of these, he proceeds, ver. 19. to deduce this'ule. Jul and comfortable lesson, . viz. ‘that’ tk ig: tention of God’s forbearanice is to invité sitnen. to repentance, who are from hence encouraged ‘to hope, that they shall be accepted eras) the sincerity of it, but such as slight bis ger ke corrections, and disregard his kind noice, " shall at length experience a Judgment oortds of God. to z 1 70 Sta FOR thine uncorruptible Spirit isiin alk en This verse: seems necessarily connected with the last of the foregoing chapter,: though in all the editions it is separate and distinct from it. It contains the reason why God:is giasduyed or a dwer of souls, viz. because his Spirit dwell: - eth with, or in every. man, tsi ér waor even with the wicked, till they, through their: own:faulk force it to depart. See Note on ch. i, 5:..) Duis. is manifestly the ‘sense of the Syriac. translatioa) which is more explicit’ than the rest: of: thé:ver sions, beginning this chapter, “* Amator. esi ane marum, quia Spiritus tuus bonus habitat i: onte nibus.” And this.it does without any prejudice to. its own perfection, : for. the Spirit contracts ag defilement by its. inhabitation :for:a:timé ins wicked breast ; its purity; like’that of the sums remains. unsullied, though :it: shines. upon , file and:dirt.. The Vulgate is particular in readiog. Cuap. XII. this place with an epiphonema, or note.of admi- ration, at the goodness of God, “ O quam bonus & suavis est, Domine, Spiritus tuus in omnibus!” “ © how benign and full of sweetness is thy Spirit, O Lord, towards all men,” or in all its proceedings ; which pious reflection may refer either to God’s dealing with the Egyptians in the former chapter, or with the Ganaanites men- tioned in this, or respect his forbearance towards sinners in general. [In. all things is the right translation, as is evident from ch. xi. 26.— aiviev ori oa ist, &e. thou sparest al things, be- cause they are ca, thy ¢hings, not oot, then fol- lows this verse, which is ill separated from the foregoing.] Grotius understands by Spirvé here, the soul of man, that it is incorruptible and im- mortal, and an image of the divine eternity, and refers to ch. ii. 23. which is not so agreeable to the sense of the context. Ver. 2. Therefore chustenest thou them by little and little that offend.) God doves not proceed with haste and eagerness to punish his enemies, as if he was jealous or afraid that they would escape from him; nor does he pour on them all his wrath at once, or on a sudden, as if he could not command his temper or resentment: He punishes not usually with such excess and rigour, as if he purposely sought the destruction and utter extinction of his enemies, but aiming at the amendment, welfare, and happiness of those he correcis, he chastises rather as a master, a father, a God. . St Ambrose finely observes, “ That what is here mentioned of God’s lenity in punishing by little and little, is an excellent maxim for the conduct of life, for that we ought equally to avoid the two contrary extremes, and to observe a medium between a faulty com- plaisance, or tenderness, that pardons every thing, and a rigid severity that excuses nothing, which makes no favourable allowance for human frailty, and is notat all sottened by any mitigat- ing and alleviating circumstances.” Ver. 3. For it was thy will to destroy by the- hands of our fathers both those old inhabitants of thy hely land.) ‘The Israelites were raised by God on purpose to be a scourge upon every. shocking vice and flagrant villany of the nations around them. ‘This people, eminently distin- guished: by the divine favour and protection, God made choice of to chastise the enormities of the Canaanites, Amorites, &c. who were e- very way. profligate and utterly abandoned, as. appears by the context, to drive them out of the Holy Land by their hands, and to retort in a ‘particular manner their cruelties upon their THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 133 own heads. As God had purposed utterly to destroy the nations of Canaan, so he did not dis- pose any of them to accept of peace from the Is- raelites, in order to their preservation ; “ it was of the Lord,” as the sacred text expresses it, “ to harden their hearts, that they should come a- gainst Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no fa- vour, but be destroyed as the Lord commanded,” Josh. xi. 20. where the exaggeration of the ex- pression is very observable, and is intended to denote. the certainty and violence of their de- struction. Sce also Deut. vii. 1, 2. Ibid. Thy holy land.) Yhe Almighty at first represented himself to the Jews as a Gentilitiat God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; afterwards as a local Deity, who had preferred Judea to all other countries, and chosen it for his peculiar residence, on which account it is generally characterized in the sacred writings, by the naine of dvs land, Levit. xxv. 23. Deut. xl. 12. Psal. x. 16. Isa. xiv. 25. and here by this writer more fully, His holy land. It was called the holy lund, xa? &cex%v, either because it was promised to the patriarchs, and was the habita- tion of them and the prophets ; or because God’s chosen peopte dwelt there ; or, lastly,. Because the true worship of God, under. the Old Testament, chiefly flourished there. Up- on account of the singular temperature of the air, the wholsomeness of the climate, the fruit- fulness of the soil, and the very great plenty of all kinds of things, it is said in Scripture to flow with milk and honey ; and Ezek. xx. 6. to. be the glory of.all lands ; and trequently, ‘upon account of the great blessings with which it a- bounded, it is madea ty pe of heaven, from thence called the heavenly Canaan. No wonder, there- fore, that God should promise this good land to Abraham and his seed for an inheritance, and that he should at length give it. to the most. worthy colony of his children. See ver. 7. and Adrichomius’s Pref. to Theatr. Terre Sanctze, where he says, that ‘it was anciently called, the Land of Promise, and by the writers’ of the Old ‘Testament,.and Josephus, the Land of Ca- naan, from Canaan the son of Ham, who lived there with his children. By Ptolenty, and the ancient geographers, it is styled Palestine; but the most common name is the Holy Land ;. and yet this does not occur in Scripture, nor any where in the Apocryphal writings, but here and 2 Mace i: 7. B Ver. 4. + hom thou hatedst for doing most odie. ous works of wechcrefts.] Canaan,.trom whorn. 134 the Canaanites were descended, was the son of Ham, or Cham, and from him the learned de- rive the original of witchcraft and sorcery. He is thought by some to be the same with Zoro- aster, the inventor of magic. Cassian acquaints us from very ancient tradition, that Ham, be- fore he entered into the ark with his father Noah, engraved upon stones and plates of me- tals, which the waters of the deluge could not spoil, his art of magic and sorcery, that it-might more effectually be preserved, which memori- als he found when the deluge was over; and, communicating them to his children, propagat- ed that art and wicked superstition among his posterity. Cassian. Collat. viii. cap. 21. He adds also, that, besides the elements, the inha- bitants of Canaan worshipped a multitude of devils that presided over their zsacre¢ aveciec, or wicked rites. ; Ver. 5. And also those merciless murderers of children.] What is mentioned in this and the following verse, about the inhuman murder of children, most undoubtedly relates to the sacri- ficing of them to Molech. Thus Selden, whose authority is beyond all commentators, speaking of the rites of Moloch, De Diis Syris, Syntag. i. cap. 6. says, ‘* Hzec sunt sacra, que Sapien- tiz volfiminis autor vocat rexvoperes reaclac;”’ cap. xiv. com. 5, & G6. The sacrifices that were offer- ed to Moloch, were of seven sorts ; six of them were the same as some of the Jewish sacrifices instituted by Moses; the seventh was the sa- crifice of a son; and he that sacrificed this, kissed the idol, which had the face ofa calf; and to this the prophet Hosea is thought to allude, ch. xiii, 2. The manner of offering the children to Moloch was this: The image was heated by fire put under it, till it was red- hot, and shone again, and then the priests took the victim, or child, and placed it in the burn- ing arms of Moloch, which wereextended on .THE BOOK .OF WISDOM. Cuar. XH; De arpawebucla, P: 496, 497. And that the worshippers of Moloch, among whom may be reckoned the Canaanites and Phoenicians, whom Grotius supposes to be the same, in Cap. XVitki , Deuteron. Amorites, Moabites, Carthaginie, ans, Cretans, Ammonites, Syrians, too many and sad instances of human degeneracy !-did consent to have their children sacrificed to this monster of cruelty in particular, appears from many passages of Scripture, Levit. xviji, 21.2 Kings iii. 27. xxiii, 10. Jer. vii. Sty xix. 4,°5. To instance in the Syrians only,.we read expressly, 2 Kings xvii. 31. that the Se. pharvites burnt their children in honour of Ad. rammelech and Anammelech, which are said, to be the gods of Sepharvaim,. but in reality were no other than different names for Moloch, as the learned agree ; see Selden in loc. citat; And the Psalmist observes, Psal. cvi. 35; that the Israelites, being mingled with these hea., then, learned their works, insomuch that they. likewise ‘* offered their sons and their daugh- ters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they offered unto the idols of Canaan,. and the land was defiled with blood,” éy cei aizest, LXX in Sanguinibus, Vulg. both in the plural number, to express the great effusion of it. Plutarch Mepi SacSauorfes, mentions what ig. still more shocking, that the parents even stood by when their children were offered upon such execrable occasions. ‘ But that the parents themselves should be the very executioners, should kill with their own hands their own issue, innocent harmless souls, destitute to be sure-of help, when their own parents were their be? trayers and murderers which our author men-, tions in the following verse, exceeds all in- - stances of cruelty, as it does indeed almost all bounds of faith. ue +. Ibid. And devourers of man’s flesh, and the, - purpose ; and that the parentor relations might feasts of blood.) Though one may easily guess not hear the shrieks of the child, they danced before the image to the sound of drums, from whence the place was called Tophet. See Fa- gius in Levit. ch. xviii. 21. Selden De Diis Syris, Syntag. i. c. 6. and note on-ch. xiv. 23. hat parents did sacrifice their own children, is evident from many instances even among the Greeks; and Romans ; and innumerable testi- monieg might be produced of it from profane writers, whether founded upon.the mistaken in- stance of Abraham’s offering up his son Isaac, I shatl not determine. See Philo De Abra- hamo Macrob. Saturn. Ovid. Fast.. Sherrock at the author’s meaning, yet this passage is very pergleged in the original ; and amidst the - multitude of various readings, it is difficult - find the true one. The Roman -edition, and Alexandrian MS, read connyxvepeyar arbpumltor capKay Soirar, % atnotloc. . The. Complutensiany. « om AAY XVOpAYyNC, % ar Opwmiver sapnor, % Sasrar aipellece, Ald. Edit. with Vatablus, So/rey aipalos ix pve. Our version manifestly follows the second read- ing which seems countenanced, by all the ver- sions, which render in like manner. If we may; suppose jusicas to be here understood, or to be brought forward from the preceding verse,’ !t Cuap. XII. will perhaps help the difficulty, and give some light and clearness to this intricate passage ; i. e. ** Thou hatedst both those old inhabitants of thy Holy Land, as being guilty of witch- crafts and abominable rites, and also the eaters of the bowels of men ;”’ ‘* comestores viscerum Hominum,” asthe Vulgate has it, or ‘* the de- vourers of human flesh, and their’ feasts of blood,’ &c. for so arOearri vcr Tapxor, I think, may be better rendered, as including the flesh of children, rather than man’s flesh, as our ver- sion has it ; for it seems to be this author’s opi- nion, that they did eat the flesh of the children shat were sacrificed ; and from thence they may be here called omhayxropdyor. Calmet differs from this writer, and says, “ That though there are too many instances of their sacrificing both men and children to Saturn, or Baal, (which are names likewise of Moloch), yet is it not suffi- ciently clear, either from Scripture or profane history, that they. ate the entrails of the unhap- py victims.” Comment in loc. We meet with owanyxvsuic indeed, 2 Maccab. vi. 7. and waparoucs emarnyxnsues, Ver. 21. in the description of the feasts of Bacchus. But the entrails of beasts seem there only meant. Ibid. Feasts of blvod.] Theeating of blood was practised among the heathen in their sa- crifices, treaties, feasts, magical rites, and as a ceremony of initiation into their mysteries, and the worship of their demons. ‘This the Psalmist alludes to, Psal. xvi. 5. which Aquila transtates caovdes avlay && aiuaroy' and in this sense Spencer understands the place, De Leg. Hebrzor. vol. i. p. 30. Maimonides observes of the heathens, that though they looked upon the eating of blood as an instance of impurity and uncleanness, yet it was practised by them, . through a fond conceit that it was the food of their demons, and that by eating of it they should ingratiaté and recommend. themselves to them, and have a free communication with them, and larger.discoveries of future events made to them,- Lucian’s account, in his Tract De Sacrificiis, of the revels of the demons at their feasts of blood, however witty or pleasant it may have been represented, yet, instead of. Inspiring us with any agreeable sentiments, can- not but appear shocking to all who have any bowels left, and are not themselves divested of the tenderness of human nature, which, far from being entertained with such unnatural re- past, startles and shudders, as it were, by sym- pathy, at the sad relation. '' Ver. 6, With their priests out.of: the midst of THE BOOK OF WISDOM. their idolatrous crue (leg.'crew.) There are,'I think, as many readings of this place in the ori- ginal, as there are editions, which have either no sense at all, or a meaning widely different. The Vatican edition reads ix yéow pusaleac ov, which seems a manifest corruption; for what does gusa$e« mean, or in what other author does it occur? the Complut. tx péow HUsas Seas ov, which is no less unintelligible. The Vulgate, rendering a medio sacramento tuo, seems to have followed a copy which read pusxpiv ov. But this reading of the passage is absurd; for how can the Canaanites, which knew not the-true 135 God, be said to feast upon blood in the midst of . his mysteries, or indeed to act contrary to them, which they knew nothing of? Vatablus reads, mesos Seasue, and Grotius more fully, é& puss pusac Saacus. The Alexand. MSS has é& pic pscag Sito, joining the two words Seiae ov in the second reading together, which seems in good measure to remove the difficulty ; but I think the whole would be more correct and better connected, if the reading was ix pécw uuses re Setae, Which Ald. Edit. retains; i. e. and also those priests of Moloch whom thou principally hatedst, and directedst thy vengeance against, and didst de- termine ix péov amoricar, to take out of the way ; or rather (because é yécw may be thought at too great a distance from its adjunct ezeaicar) thou wast determined to destroy: those priests parti- cularly amidst all the crew of idolaters, which is the sense of our version, éx pécv Sincv, ex medio tripudiantium choro vel catu ; for so Siases is un+ derstood by the Lexicographers ; and next to these, the inhuman parents, who either them- selves killed their own children, or gave them willingly to be sacrificed. Priests may relate indifferently either to those of Moloch, or those of the old inhabitants of the holy land; but aulérjag yore relate only to the worshippers of Moloch.. The version then of this and the three foregoing verses (plainer in -construction, and more agreeable to the Greek, without the trans: position that is made in our translation) lies thus: “ For thou hating both those: old inhabi- tants of thy holy land for their odious works of witchcrafts, &c. and also (hating) these merci- less murderers of children, and devourers of hu- man flesh, and.their feasts of blood, didst-deter- mine to destroy, by the hands of our fathers, the priests from amidst their .idolatrous- congrega- tions, and the parents that were guilty of de- stroying helpless souls, viz, their children.” Ir it be asked why any distinction is made between the old inhabitants dealing in witchcrafts, and 136 the worshippers of Moloch, which our version retains, the reason probably is, because Moloch was an idol originally of the Ammonites, and the rites of sacrificing children were likewise Ammonitish, and came only by degrees into Canaan. See Selden De Dis Syris, Syntag. i. cap. 6. Orif it should be further enquired, how did God destroy the worshippers of Moloch, that his holy land might receive a worthy colony of children? 1 answer, in the vengeance taken on account of Baal-Peor, when all the Midia- nites were utterly destroyed, the priests ix uécw Sizoy, from Balaam down to the meanest, and also all the women, Numb. xxxi. which must include aviija¢ yorec. In confirmation of this opinion, see Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 783. who un- derstands the matter of Baal-Peor, to be the sa- crificing of their children to Moloch; answer- able to which, he interprets Psal. cvi. 28. They ate the sacrifices of the dead. And this being the first idolatry they fell into after their coming out of the wilderness, and just before their get- ting possession of the Holy Land, he tells us, that St Stephen upbraided them with it in the words of the prophet, that after their neglects of sacri- ficing to God forty years in the wilderness, they yet could presently take up the tabernacle of Moloch. In confirmation of this opinion, see Selden also De Dis Syris, who says, that all the Baals (however distinguished) of Syria, of which Baal-Peor is the first-mentioned, were only other names for Moloch. See also Jer. xix. 5. And to confirm what Lightfoot and Selden say, we may add the authority of J. Ger. Vossius, who contends learnedly for the same opinion about Moloch and Baal. Theol. Gsentil. vol. vi. p. 123, 124, and 720. Edit. Fol. Thus we havea ready solution of the history to which this passage refers, and thus may it be interpreted consist- ently with little or no alteration in the Greek. ’To what I before mentioned about the manner of these unnatural and inhuman sacrifices, (see note on ver. 5.) we may add, that at first they made the children only to pass between two great fires lighted before Moloch, as a sort of imaginary purification; but afterwards, con- founding the worship of this idol with that paid to Saturn, the worship of Moloch became equally barbarous and bloody. Such as thought they had too many children, burnt them in honour of him, and‘consecrated them to their .tutelar God, for the greater good of the family, as they supposed: and often, on important occasions, and in times of imminent danger, it was the eldest, the most beloved child, whom they de- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuar. Xi voted to Moloch. This abominable practite lasted long among the Canaanites, in a -plac# called anciently Gehenna, or the valley of Hen- non ; it was also called Tophet, for the reason. given above. artery [| Ver. 5, 6. This seems to be the most cop rupt and: difficult passage in the whole work! From the diversities and traces of the copies, } would read it thus: Kai owaxyxropayes, % arbpwmté Yar capKaY % Soway ai no]o¢ x Huows Sixca7a¢, 4 avbirfag yores, &c. This is intelligible, without mich deviation from the copies: And each depravas tion is easily to be accounted for. .Translateit thus: ** For thou, having hated those old m- habitants of thy holy fand,. for their odious works of witchcrafts and wicked sacrifiees,-and also because they were merciless murderetg of children, and eaters of their entrails, and associates in feasts of human flesh, and blood; and abomination ; and parents, who with:-their own hands, killed persons (2. e. their own children) destitute of help; didst determine . to destroy them by the hands of our fathers; that the land which thou esteemedst, | $e, Td yvoog is an abomination or abomirable thing, more particularly one in which human blood is concerned. Grsacdrar are associates in sacrifices, or religious matters. The word.is often used by Philo Judzeus.]} bane Ver. 8. Nevertheless, even those thou sparedst as men, and didst send wasps, forerunners of thiné host, to destroy them by little and little.) The meaning is not that God, absolutely spared them ; for this is not consistent either with the context, or sacred history ; the sense must be, that to these as men, and his creatures, though the greatest sinners, God shewtd some mark$» of tenderness, and did not treat them with all that rigour which they deserved. The Psalm- ist has a thought which very much resembles this, Psal. Ixxviii. 30, 40. ‘* Many a time turned he his wrath away, and wonld not sof- fer his whole displeasure to arise ; for’he con: . sidered that they were but flesh, and that they Were even a wind that passeth away, and com- eth not again. By ‘* wasps, forerunners of God’s host,” we may understand either, that God, before the Israelites came into those parts, sent hornets, a sort of wasps, of all others thé most deadly and pernicious, which so infested the Canaanites, that many of thei were forced to leave their country ; or that, when the fet raelites came to give them battle, these hors nets made such assaults upon them, as faci: litated the victory. Some Rabbins say, they Cuar. XI. flaw in the eyés of the Canaanites, and made them so blind that they could not see to fight ; and such as fled away they pursued, and kill- ed in their lurking holes. Joshua confirms the sending of these hornets, ch. xxiv. 12. which God had before threatened to send, Deut. vii. 20. and says in general (for we have no where in Scripture any more particular account of them) that the Amorites were not driven out by the sword and bow of the Israelites, but by the stings of these venomous creatures. Philo says of the Canaanites, that they were unworthy, many of them, to be conquered by men, érive tar txbpor avative; and therefore God sent troops of hornets to fight for his holy ones, and to destroy them by a. most shameful overthrow, De Praemiis & Poenis. ‘To shew the probabi- lity of this, Bochart instances in whole people who have been forced by them to forsake their country. Hierozoic. lib. iv. p. 2. Herodotus, Appian, Strabo, and Calmet confirm the same. Many ‘writers, it must be confessed, have un- derstood the wasps, or hornets mentioned here, and in the books of Moses and Joshua meta- phorically ; St Austin in particular supposes their fear to have had the same effect upon them as being pursued by hornets. But, 1. The li- teral sense, which our author favours, is main- tained by Theodoret, Procopius, and Bochart, vol. iii. p. 538. 2. The fear which God threat- ened to send upon the enemies of his people, is mentioned as distinct from these hornets, Exod. xxiii. 27, 28. And lastly, the Scripture speaks of them.as real animals, Deut. vii. 20. Josh. xxiv. 12. Ver. 9. Not that thou wast unable to destroy them at once with cruel beasts, or with one rough word.] Of God’s extraordinary manner of pu- nishing by vile beasts, there are very many ex- amples in holy Scripture. As. the Samaritans, that were slain by them because- they feared not the Lord, 2 Kings xvii. $5, 26. the chil- dren that mocked the prophet Elisha, 2 Kings ii. 23, 24, the disobedient prophet, 1- Kings xii, 24. This was agreeable to what God threatened the wicked, Lev. xxiv. 22. ** That he would send vile beasts among them to rob them of their children, and destroy their cattle, to make them few in number, and their highways desolate.”” See also Isaiah xv. 9. Jer. v. 6.— vill. 17. xv. 3. Ezekiel xiv. 15, 21. The in- stance which is next mentioned by this writer, vz. that God can destroy guilty nations by one harsh word, finely displays his power. David, in his book of Psalms, seems to have had the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 137 same thought, that one word from the mouth of God was sufficient to blast and confound his enemies. See particularly, Psal. Ixxxiii. 1. which some learned men have understood in this sense. Or if by a metaphor we explain this of thunder, which is often God’s voice of vengeance, see Psal. xviii. 13, 14. xlvi. 6. the thought strikes us more forcibly. [Bat then it would have been gem (not acye) as in the places quoted, and elsewhere frequently, Isa. xxx. 30, 31. Psal. Ixxxvit. 1S. more fully gam rig Beor)ng ov, and owas Ow, Exod. ix. 28.] If we suppose this to be meant of the word of the Lord, or the adyes, personally, as Calmet seems to take it, Comm. in loc. enraged and ex:sperated at the proceedings of the wicked, and executing the Almighty’s orders upon them, as he is represented, ch. xviii. 15, 10. and of- ten under the Old Testament, the idea rises still higher, is more magnificient and terrible. . Ver. 10. But executing thy judgments upon them by little and little.| ‘Though the history of the wars against the Canaanites be briefly sum- med up in Scripture, yet they lasted a long time, Josh. xi. 18. seven years, according to the opi- © nion of many. learned men: And such a length of time God was pleased the war should continue, partly in respect to the old inhabitants them- selves, who, being chastened by little and little, had place of repentance given them, and also to exercise the faith and patience of his own peo- ple, and that the difficulty of the conquest might make them the mote sensible of God’s power and goodness. To these may be added the fol- lowing reasons, which are to be met with in scripture: First, God did not drive out these na- tions hastily by the victorious hand of Joshua, that he might thereby prove Israel whether they would keep the way of the Lord, to walk there- in; for, if none of-them had been left, there would have been no temptation to worship their gods, Judges ii. 22, 23. Another reason for driving out these nations by little and little was, Jest the land should become desolate and uncul- tivated, Exod. xxili. 29. for the Israelites were not yet numerous enough to people the whole country, had these nations been destroyed all at. once. And a third reason occurs in the same verse, that a great part being thus left without inhabitants, it would be possessed and,over-run by vile beasts, which would have been very. dangerous to the Israelites in the other neigh- bouring parts where they were settled. “3 Ibid. Not being ignorant that they were a. naughty generation, and that their malice was : S) 138 bred in them, and their cogitation would never be changed.| The expression here is not unlike that mentioned Gen. vi. 5. “ God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually,” and his dealing was in likesmanner; for though he saw them unalter- ably bent upon wickedness, yet he allowed the men of the old world time for repentance, and the prevention of their ruin. And thus God knew that Pharaoh would not let his people go, and that his mind would not be altered, Exod. iii, rg. and yet he tries him by different me- thods, he executes his judgments upon him by little and little, and gives all possible warnings to reclaim him. He foretels the plagues, before he sends them, to admonish him ; he performs signs and wonders before him, to soften him ; he inflicts worse and worse judgments upon him to affrighten him, but all without effect ; for it ap- pears that Pharaoh six times hardened his own heart, before God hardened it once. But it may be asked, to what purpose God gave the Ca- naanites place for repentance, and visited them with admonitory chastisements, if he knew that their cogitations, or wicked intentions, would never be altered? To this I answer, that though God certainly foreknew that they would not make a right use of his forbearance, yet his pre- science no way determined their acting ; still they were at liberty to have changed their co- gitations or designs, and to have altered their vicious course of life ; for there is a great diffe- rence between God’s foreknowledge and his de- crees; a distinction never to be forgot. God always knows when men are wickedly disposed, and their sinful habits become, as it were, natu- ralto them; but he dves not therefore decree their sinning, nor take away all possibility of their conversion, nor does he unconditionally predetermine their punishment ; for then all mo- tives to repentance would indeed be useless and imeffectual, and their doom irreversible: His knowing therefore that the Canaanites would never change their sinful inclinations, no more inferred any necessity of their sinning, than God’s knowigg that Adam would fall, was the occasion of his fall. Nor were all the seed of “Cham any more necessarily vessels of wrath, be- cause of their innate and natural propensity to evil, than all the seed of Abraham were neces- sarily vessels of merey. See Jackson’s Works, tom. ill, €. 4i. Ver. 11. For it was @ cursed seed from the be- ginning. Utshould be a seed cursed, and point- ed thus.: Never to te changed; for it was a seed THE BOOK OF WISDOM, Cuar. XH. cursed from the beginning. Nor didst thou, $e, And so in the Greek.] It has been generally supposed that Cham or Ham, was the person: whom Noah cursed for discovering his naked. ness ; but there are stronger and better reasons to induce us to think that Canaan was cursed rather than Ham. 1. It has been a received tradition, that Canaan first saw his grand-fa. ther’s nakedness, and made sport with it to his father. 2. Several expressions in Scripture seem to fix this upon Canaan; when Noah awoke, “it is said he knew what his younger son had done unto him,” Gen. ix. 24. which could not be true of Ham, who was the middlemost ; but Canaan may very well be called his younger, or little son, nothing being more common than,to call grand-children sons ; and Canaan was.in. deed the youngest of them. 3. Thé most cor- rect editions of the LXX agree in pointing out Canaan particularly ; for they read éamalapales Xarady waic: which reading both St Austin and St Chrysostom follow. And indeed this parti- cularity seems purposely inserted to prevent any mistake with respect to his father. 4. That if Canaan himself is not meant, then by Canaan we must understand his father Ham, which isa, forced interpretation. 5. This is probably the reason why Ham is always mentioned as the. ther of Canaan, as he resembled his father most, and was concerned with him in the same wicp ked crime. Lastly, If Ham was cursed, it would have affected his other children and their poste- rity; but it is observable, that the curse affects Canaan only. Ibid. Nezther didst thou for fear of any map give them pardon for those things wherein they sinned.] The meaning is not, that God really pardoned them, as our version seems to imply. for the Canaanites are mentioned all along.as devoted to des:ruction: but God deferred their punishment, indulged them in a seeming secu- rity, and gave them aeay, i, e. impunity fors time, whic was rather a respite than a pardob And thus the Syriac and Arabic interpreters understand it, rendering the Greek word.vely justly by Prorogatio. Calmet observes very beautifully, ‘‘ That God, whether he punishes or pardons, has no selfish or partial views, is not influenced by any motives of hatred, fear, Of ile terest, which men are generally actuated bys He loves without excess, is jealous without 02, easiness, repents without grief, is angry .without disturbance, and punishes without resentment. Comm. in loc. Herein he has happily, trent cribed St Austin: « Amas, nec zstuas; 2610) Chap. XII. & securus es 3 poenitet te, & non doles; irasce- ris, & tranquillus es.” Confess. lib. i. c. 4. + Ver. 12. Or who shall accuse thee for the na- tions that perish, whom thou hast made 2) Tic % tynanrécer cor xole evar amorwrorar, x ov ixoincae. Our version probably is faulty here; the true ren- dering seems to be, Who shall object to thee, or call thee to account for the things which thou hast done to, or against, the nations which are destroy- ed? This is the sense of ooey in the beginning of this verse, and in very many passages of Scrip- ture. The Greek would be better pointed thus : Tig Se tyxantoer cot, xala trav awerwrcray a ov tmoincac. [Our translators took xeJa in the sense of cepi, concerning, as to ; which signification it some- times hath: See Job ix. 7. So that xaJé azxoaw- aeroy Will mean the same here ds atpi dy exénecac, ver. 14. which they in like manner render, for any whom thou bast punished, rightly reading txtaxcae With the best copies, ezdatcac. The be- ginning of the verse is taken from Job ix. 12. or Xi. I0.] Vbid. Or who shall come to stand against thee, to be revenged for the unrighteous men ?] "BR rig ec xelasagiy cor trevorlar exdixog xala adixav avbeamar : our translators seem to understand xdldésacis in a military sense, ‘‘ Who will come to a set, or . pitched battle with thee, to avenge the cause of the wicked ?”? Kafisnu: sometimes is so used in good writers. But there is likewise another sense of this place: ‘* Who will appear before thee, to undertake the defence and vindication of the unrighteous ?”? for txSixce signifies an ad- vocate as well as an avenger. And thus Mes- sieurs du Port Royal render, ‘* qui paroitra devant vous, pour prendre la defense des hom- mes injnstes?’? and so the Arabic version, “quis se constituat apud te ad intercessionem auxiliarem pro hominibus iniqnis ?”” But in either sense éxSixec xala adixar cyAperer, as the pre- sent reading of the Greek is, seems not right. If we join xala and adixor together, which seem to have been separated through the fault of the transcribers, and make it xeJadixar, i. e. sudicio damnatorum, the harshness of the construction will be avoided, and a sense rather more agree- able to the context will take place; ‘* Who shall dare to stand against thee in battle to re- venge, or who shall appear before thee to un- dertake the cause of those thou hast condemn- ed to death ?”? There is the like expostulation in the book of Job, chap. xxxvi. 22, 23. ac- cording to the LXX Version, which comprises the sentiments in this and the following verse, THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 159 Tie yap ist xd] avlov Surasne 3 rig Sb ésw é erator ave re tole : tig 0 exer, "Expater aKa ; (Yer. 13. “Iva Sekne Srivx ahinws EXOU AS, seems to be out of their proper place, and serve to no purpose where they stand at present. I be- lieve they should be placed in ver. 10. after the word Lelavoias, thus: Kolrer 88 nalabpaxu, Bilys 7o- Troy Bélavelas, tro deiErs GTt Ux alinus expivas. Bx ayroer, or, &c. ] Ver. 14. Neither shall king or tyrant be able to set his face against thee.) ‘Vhe Vulgate which renders, ‘* Neque Rex neque Tyrannus in con- spectu tuo inquirent de his quos perdidisti,”’ and the ancient English versions, fall short of the spirit of the original ; the word arloplarpizas is remarkably strong and elegant ; it is a vigo- rous compound word, which singly contains all the particulars before enumerated, ver. 12. nor is our translation Iess to be admired for preserving the beauty and boldness of the ex- pression here, which Junius renders but im- perfectly by ocu/um obfirmare, and the Arabic still more faintly, oculos attollere; both of which, by being too literal, express not sufficiently the force and spirit of the metaphor. See Black- wall’s Sac. Class. vol. i. p. 10. Ver. 15. Thinking it not agreeable with thy power to condemn him that hath not deserved to be punished.} lf Sinan, in the beginning of this verse, be taken to signify strectly just, the sense then is, that the infinite greatness of God’s ma- jesty cannot sway his most holy will from the exact observance of the rules of justice; that though he is almighty, he acts as if injustice was out of his power, as being contrary to his will and the perfection of his nature, and there- fore will never punish any of his creatures that do not deserve to be punished, merely to dis- play an act of power. This sentiment, that God will not punish those that do not deserve to be punished, seems to me to convey no very high idea of the deity. or is it any commen- dation of the God of Israel not to do a flagrant act of injustice ? or would this be an excellen- cy to be boasted of even in a heathen Jupiter ? how much properer, and more agreeable to the nature of the God of the Old Testament, to say of him, that the greatness of his majesty does not proinpt him to cruelty, to sudden and im- mediate revenge, or to exceed in the degree of punishment ; but, all-powerful as he is, that he is forbearing and merciful, ‘* even to such as do indeed deserve to be punished,”’ either passing by their transgressions, or punishing 2 140 them less than they deserved. And in this sense of good, benign, merciful, [ rather am inclined to understand Sixes, which is a known signifieation of the word, and will furnish a sublimer and more agreeable sense. From hence then 1 am induced to offer another ex- planation of this passage, and to attempt a small alteration in the reading of the Greek, which perhaps would be more perfect, if, in- stead of aviv viv uh opetrorla xonzaSivar, we read av- tiv rov uty dpeiror|a, OF «which L should still like better, if it may be allowed) auziv uir zi¥ épenorla nonnative xaladinaoas CArorpioy wysueres Tis ots Surdusws, ‘Iium quidem (or illum ipsum quidem) qui debet puniri, morte statim multare alienum putas a tua potestate—Thou thinkest thy pow- er docs not extend sv far as instantly to con- demn to death him that deserves to be punish- ed.”? For the whole scope of the chapter seems ‘to be to display the mercy of God; but there is no mercy shewed, nor justice properly, in not punishing the innocent. Coverdale’s ver- sion in this place is very faulty ; ‘* Thou pu- nyshest even hym that hatlr not deserved to be punyshed ;”” which corrupt reading in some ancient copies, and particularly St Jerom’s bi- ble, as it is called, manifestly charging God with injustice, and reflecting, in the strongest manner, upon his goodness, the Vulgate has corrected to the sense of our version. [Ibid. Avo wiv roy, &c. Miy would not be so proper in this place, because 8 or ,éJo: does not, answer to .it in what follows; and though I know that uiy is sometimes used in that manner without 8 to answer to it, yet it never will be allowed from conjecture, contrary to all the co- pies. But, I perceive, you are aware of another difficulty attending this correction; which is, that wy will not yet complete the sense and truth; and therefore you ‘translate xaJadimeca:, “ morte {statim] multare,” which it does not signify ; and an adversary, with equal reason, would translate it, “ morte, post longum tempus, mul. tare ;” for it signifies the one no more than the other.- I believe it is better to let rir ni épetaoa stand as an oversight or inaccuracy of the wri- ter; of which kind I am well satisfied there are several in this piece. But the greatest difficulty of this passage seems to me to be in the word avriy, Which is perfectly needless, and I am pretty well certain cannot stand in that place consistently with the Greek language, unless the author had been speaking of some particu- lar person to whom that word. might be refer- red, This makes me think that he wrote thus :. THE BOOK OF ‘WISDOM. ‘Crap. Sah Ainaics 8% dy avrig, Smalos ra warla Siimese, rov macboeld awa, &c. according to our version, !:Foreg much then as thou art righteous thyselfp-thow orderest all things righteously.’’} Ver. 16. For thy power is the beginning:9f righteousness ; and because thou art the Lord: all, it maketh thee to be gracious nto all.\ires Thy power is the foundation or basis.of :justicas and equity, which are inseparable from it. Phe power of men is frequently the source and fao« tive of their injustice ; and tyrants oftenest shew their power by acts of cruelty and oppression; as if their maxim was that of the wicked one,in ch, ii. rz. “* Let our strength be the law of jug tice.” But God displays his omnipotence most chiefly in shewing mercy and pity ; and though he spares many guilty nations in the universé, yet he is the same absolute Sovereign ‘of the. world ; as the power of a king is no less visible, and always more amiable in reprieves and acts of mercy, than in the horrible pomp and bloed- shed of executions : Nay, according to whatfol. lows in the next words, he is therefore’ graci- ously disposed towards all, because he. is Lord of all; and though he may exert his absolute power how and when he pleases, - yet he is the more favourable and indulgent to his.creaturés upon account of his dominion over themyand relation to them. We cannot have a finer or more lively instance of this than what we.meet with in Jonah iv. 11. where God is introduced arguing with great tenderness in favour of Ni neveh, devoted to ruin and destruction, ‘Shall not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand .persons?” From the compassionate concern for the united misery of so many of his creatures, which pre: vailed with him, no less than their repentance, at length to avert the impending evil, .wesee that God is love, and that love is his :very(e% sence as Creator. Ver, 17. For when men will not believe that thou art of a full power, thou shewest th) strength ; and among them that know it, thou make est their boldness -manifest.| “Jexvy BS wWenruim amiseusros tari Suvcusws reresotrils, & ty Toig esoor 7d Spebes Bentyxas.. The Arabic renders, *. Declarag 10 bur tuum his qui plenitudinem potentiz’ we minime credunt; inter: eos ‘autem qui norunt illam, audaciam eorum coarguis.” Exactly as. our version, the translators. of which seem to have read amisvyévos,’ in the sense of amsvow, gainst use, and without authority. But { take the true and exact. rendering oi. the- Greek to be; “ When thou art suspected, or questioned, with Cuap. XII. respect to the plenitude of thy power, thou dis- playest it, or givest them a specimen of it; and as to such as know thy power (ceux qui connoissent vostre toute puissance, according to the com- ment of Messieurs du Port Royal) and yet act in defiance of it, thou convincest them of their boldness.” And thus Grotius and Junius un- derstand castueos in this place; and the Vul- gate, which renders, “ Virtutem ostendis tu, qui non crederis esse in virtute consummatus—et horum qui te nesciunt, audaciam traducis ;” from a copy which read ux eSoos. This latter clause of the Vulgate, though the least perfect, is fol- lowed by Coverdale’s version; and from this authority Dr Grabe seems to have inserted o in his edition, though it is not in the Alexand. MS, nor in the other Greek copies, nor indeed necessarily wanted. [Instead of irSexruca, perhaps the Vulgate read isdeixrs ov, ostendis tu,” tho’ I think it much more probable that in the Vul- gate it should be read ta and qua, i. e. tum and quum. In this verse are contained two allu- sions to two remarkable events in the history of Moses : The first, “* When men disbelieve the perfection of thy power, thou shewest thy might,” is to be explained from what is related, Numb. xi. 4. and Psal. Ixxviii. rg. where the Israelites, longing for flesh, and distrusting God’s omnipotence, and his ability to supply them with it in the wilderness, said, ‘“‘ Shall God pre- pare a table inthe wilderness?’ He smote the stony rock, indeed—but can “ he give bread al- so, or provide fiesh for his people?” Here was a fit occasicn for God to display the protection of his power, and to shew his might: And accord- ingly, (ver. 27.) by his power he brought in the “ south-west wind: He rained flesh upon them as thick as dust ; and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea.”” In the second instance, the Greek text, Kai ty rote adion 76 Spaces hertyxes, is faulty in the editions, and ought to be, % é oi OYK adcos SE 78 Spaces, &c. “ in those who do not know thee,” as I-had conjectured from the his- tory, and afterwards found it confirmed by the Alexandrian MS, and the Vulgate version. For it is a. manifest repetition .of Pharaoh’s insolent answer to Moses, Exod. v. 2. OYKOIMA zéy Ku- por, “1 know not the Lord.” And the words vx eocs are allusive to Pharaoh’s xx of}a, and are to be understood .as if :the author had written, ** And thou reprovest the boldness of those who say they know-thee not.” Dr Grabe added o af- ter eideor, from the Vulgate, “ qui te nesciunt.” I think there can be no doubt but that the au- thor wrote so, and that «: was omitted or lost in THE BOOK OF WISDOM justice was painted as Jupiter’s assessor. IAI the preceding syllable «, because ch. xvi. 16. he writes in the same manner concerning the same thing, apreserer yap SE EIMENAI actbes, &C. “ For tha ungodly, who said they did not know thee, were scourged by the strength of thine arm.” It is to be observed too, that the next verse depends upon, and is opposed to what is said in the latter part of this, concern- ing God’s severity to those who say that they know him not. “ But, continues he, thou judgest us (thy people the Jews) with mildness, and orderest us with great forbearance.” ‘The word riuzs is to be added after xpives, as well as after Sroimess. ] Ver. 18. But thou, mastering thy power, judg- est with equity, and orderest us with great favour.) The sense of this place in our version is, that God, out of regard to mankind, waves and o- ver-rules his power for the more pleasing work of mercy ; and though the frequent instances of his goodness and loving kindness are usually requited on men’s part with baseness and in- gratitude, yet does not the greatness of his ma- Jesty urge him to sudden revenge, nor the sense of his injured prerogative prompt him tu an immediate resentment. Accordingly, punish- ments are called by the prophet his strange work, Isa. xxviii, 21. 7..e. they are what God is not inclined to inflict, they are disagreeable to the benignity of his nature, and such acts as. mens sins constrain him, as it were, to exercise. . The following reflection of the very learned Dr . Jackson upon this passage of our author is so: judicious, that it nceds no other light. ‘** To derogate from God’s power is dangerous, and. to compare the prerogatives of the most abso- lute princes with his is more odious ; yet this: . comparison may safely be made, that God doth not more infinitely exceed the most impotent wretch on earth in. power and greatness, than he-doth the greatest monarch the world hath er ever had, in mercy, justice, and leving-kind- ness Nor is his will the rule of goodness, because the designs thereof are backed by in- finite power; but because his holiness doth so rule his power, and moderate his will, that the one cannot enjoin or the other exect any thing but what is most consonant to the strictest rules of cquity Bad therefore was the doc- trine, and worse the application or use which Anaxarchus would have gathered from that hieroglyphical device of antiquity, wheiein It did not mean, as that sophister interpreted it to Alexander, that the decrees of great mo. 142 narchs are always.to be reputed oracles of jus- tice, and that their practices are never unjust; nor that omnipotent sovereignty alone would justify the equity of all his decreesy@who was subject to rage and passion, but that justice was always ready to mitigate and temper his wrath with equity. The true Jehovah, as he needs no sweet tongue to moderate his anger, ‘ so hath he need of no such sophistry to justify the equity of his decrees.” ‘om. ii. p. 66. I shall only add, that Sader icxves in the origi- nal, which our translators and those’of the Ge- neva Bible render mastering thy power, hath been considered by others as a title only, the same as Lord of might, or Lord of power, as Coverdale and all the other ancient versions understand it ; and Calinet renders in like man- ner O Dominateur Souverain. St Austin’s sense is the most elevated, Dominus Virtutum, as if it was the same with the Lord of hosts, or Kugiog Zabxw? ; or perhaps he may mean Dominus om-_ nipotentissimus, as he elsewhere expresses him- self, Confess. lib. i. c. 4. a superlative which seems to carry its own confutation with it; but should rather be ascribed to his zeal than inaccuracy, as if he could never carry his thoughts or expressions high enongh in de- scribing the infinity of God’s attributes. Ibid. For thou mayest use power when thou wilt.] This expression falls vastly short of the _ Sense and majesty of all the other versions. [he reading of Fulgentius here, who almost transcribes the Vulgate, is infinitely more mag- nificent, and worthy of God, Subest enim tibi, ‘cum voles, posse, i. e. thou only willest a thing, and it is done. Nor is the Syriac much infe- rior, Si velis, preesto est potentia. The expres- sion ig not much unlike that of the Psalmist, ‘* Whatsoever the Lord pleaseth, that does he in heaven and in earth, in the sea, and in all deep places.” Psal. cxxxv. 6. Where the ‘rue reading, as well as the more sublime, is ‘© Whatsoever the Lord wills, that he -does.” awavle fou nOancer 6 Kupuce, txoinsy, LXX. This in- stantaneousness of the effect upon the act of this will, is finely expressed by St Matthew, Stra, xabapicSr, I will, be thou clean, ch. viii. 3. Nor are the words of our author in the origi- nal without their beauty, wapest Oot, OTaY SEAM, 7d SvvaeSeu.° ‘We have the very same thought, and even expression, Constit. Apost. lib. vil. c. 35. = Zu 58 aé xpnsts ey evep ferrous, % P1r0dw05 ty oiK]apuoig, é pores warloxgarwp ore > Séaeis, wages! cos Td SuvacSar x, 7. «. Calmet seems to understand the passage in she sense of our version, viz. ** Thou hastest THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Citar. XH not, having all times and seasons.at thy-eomé mand, to suppress the insolence of the wicked) and to punish the sinner, because: thou knows est they cannot escape thee, and that thou hase it always in thy power to cite them before theey and to deal with them according to their-works, God loses nothing by waiting for the repenté ance of the wicked, and the wicked are-ng gainers by the impunity of a few years./ ‘Th Sovereign Judge will at length sufficiently’coms pensate for the slowness of his proceeding by heavier degree of punishment.” | Ver. 19. But by such works thou hast tawehe thy people that the just man should be merciful “Ori ke roy Sixasy erat girarBowmor, he €. >t Thow temperest all thy judgments with mercy ‘ang equity, and by that mixture of merey: with. justice thou teachest thy people to shewth# same temper to one another.” St Austin’s ob? servation upon the sinners of the old wofld is very pertinent; “ God foreknew they: woult abuse the reprieve allowed them, yet he was se gracious to vouchsafe it to them, teaching tg by this example, how much it is our duty te bear with those whom we know to be bad thet: at present, but uncertain how long they may continue so: That we should not be too hasty or rigorous in condemning or punishing them, since God himself is so merciful as to allot even to such sinners as he fore-knows will make aq ill use of his forbearance, so long a space for'res pentance.” De Catechiz. Rudib. As: these: two virtues are so intimately united, and have such a strict relation to each other, we may! perhaps not improperly consider them in the following view, as resembling Jacob’s ‘twé wives. Stern judgment is detormed as Leahy but smiling mercy is as beautiful as Rachel? justice may claim the privilege of being the’ first born, but mercy is always the best belov- ed. Like sisters should they lovingly go’ to gether, and be married to the same man; what the barrenness of the one wants, the fraitfule ness of the other will supply. a Ibid. And hast made thy children-to be of food hope, that thou givest repentance Sor sinty It should rather be, “ That thou givest room repentance for sins,—en leur: dorinant leu 4¢ faire penitence,” says Calmet ; for God doesnot! give, but accept repentance ; and so the Vulgate reads, “ Judicans das locum in peccatis .poeti- tentiz,” which Coverdale follows in his versiote Our translators seem not thoroughly to havé considered the force of the Greek word ; fof tes has another signification, and more agree Cuap. XII, able to this place, 7. ¢. “ thou allowest, permit- test repentance.” See Acts ii. 27. Oudt bases roy arid ov ide Siaphorar’ Thou wilt not allow, or per- mit, thine holy one to see corruption. The Syriac seems to understand it in like manner, kiliis tuis spem fecisti: & concedis (leg. bonam spem fecisti, ut concedas) poenitentiam delicto- rum. The sense of the passage is, that men may from the experience or observation of God's for- bearance to punish, and the continuance of his long-suffering to sinners, presume that God is placable and forgiving, and will not be rigorous in his proceedings with them; may hopefully promise themselves, that God will favourably accept their sincere repentance, and the com- pensations of unfeigned sorrow and contrition, which they offer in lieu of the exact performance of their duty, and that at length their guilt will be atoned by the truest sin-offering they can present. This consideration carries a pleasing and encouraging hope with it. If God indeed judged his creatures with the utmost rigour of his justice, how should even his own children presume to hope for pardon, or to be justified before him? but when he sheweth such cle- mency towards his enemies, what may they not then hope for, from a God so full of goodness and mercy? and can the faithful have any greater encouragement to have confidence to- wards God, and assure their hearts before him? Ver. 21. With how great circumspection didst thou judge thine own sons, unto whose fathers thou bast sworn, and made covenants of good promises ?] The sense seems necessarily to re- quire, that this should be read in the future tense, with how great circumspection wilt thou judge, or punish, thine own children? &c. which is the rendering of the Geneva Bible. This is confirm- ed by the Arabic version, which reads, Sane (leg. sine) omni rigore & profundissima penetratione judicabis filios tuos. Hence it seems probable, that the true reading of the Greek is, diz wiore uixpiGetas xpuverg Tes y¥s os, and pot Expavag, as the printed copies in general now read. [I am of opinion Sane is right ; and that instead of ocenc, the Arabic read aasrs, omni.] ‘The sense of this and the foregoing verse is, * That, if thou didst shew so much patience towards the Canaanites,. épernouéns Sararw, who through sins were worthy to die, as Coverdale renders, and had forfeited not only their land, but their lives.to thy justice 3. with how much more weariness and caution wilt thou punish thine own people the Jews, with. whose fathers thou enteredst into covenant, and made to them therein goodly and precious THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 143 promises !” for so I chuse with the ancient ver- sions to render covenants of good promises, in the latter part of ver. 21. See the like expres~ sion, Ephes. ti. 12. Ver. 22. To the intent that, when we judge, we should carefully think of thy goodness ; and when we ourselves are judged, we should look for mercy 3] i.e. when we reflect upon the difference thou hast made between us and our enemies, it should teach us to remember the example of thy goodness and Jong: suffering, when we judge or punish others, and to imitate it by treating: them in the same tender and compassionate manner. ‘This is the sense of the Arabic ver- sions, which reads, “ ut, cum judicamus, de tua simus bonitate solliciti, eamque imitemur.”— And when we ourselves are punished, we are taught and encouraged by happy experience, to put our trust in thy mercy (so Coverdale renders) and to expect a gracious deliverance from our troubles. Ver. 23. Wherefore, whereas men have lived dissolutely and unrightcously, thou hast tormented then with their o«n abcminations.} Such there- fore of thy enemies as lived unrighteously, a3/xos; and not ad/«xs, as most copies have it, in a foolish senseless way of life, & apposum Cwis, (which our version expresses but indifferently by dissolute- ness, and Coverdale’s by ignorance) having: their foolish hearts darkened, as St Paul, speak- ing of such idolaters, Rom. i, 21. expresses it, them didst thou torment with their own abomi- nations, The word fiiavfua sometimes signifies the false object of worship, and sometimes those abominable sins and filthy practices which were notorious and custemary in.the mysteries of the idol worship; so that these words may refer in a larger sense to the enormities and detestable sins practised in the heathen veda’, and hidden mysteries. See ch. xiv. 24, 25, 26. 2 Maccab. vi. 4, and that God, asa just punishment for such wickedness, tormented them with their own abominations, 7. e. gave them up to a reprobate mind and vile affections. See Bishop Fell on Rom. i. 26. But if abominations be taken in the first sense, as signifying false objects of worship, it will be proper to-enquire what they were, and. who were guilty of such. worship. The worship referred to in this place, is that of vile beasts and senseless animals ; and the guilty . persons must be either the Canaanites mention- ed in the foregoing part of the chapter, or the ‘Egyptians.. Those who apply this passage to the Canaanites, understand it of their being tor-. mented by hornets, ver. 8, as a just punishment, 144 and perhaps too eg turaryniv, to make sport of them for their ridiculous worship. Forthe Phi- listines, and in ail appearance, says Calmet in loc. the Canaanites too, worshipped flies, the god Baalzebub, particularly the people of Ekron or Accaron; see 2 Kings i. 2. where the LKX read Myar Or Axxardr. Josephus and Greg. Na- zianzen confirm the same; see also Selden De Dis Syris Syntag. ch. ii. 6. who says, the: name of this god was Baalzebub, @¢is Mye, Deus Musca; and afterwards called BeatCva, Deus Stercoreus, by way of derision ; see Piscator and Drusius in Matt. x. 25. and Leigh’s Critica Sacra, p. 66. ‘That religious rites were paid to flies in the temple of Apollo Actius, see Alian. De animalibus, lb. ii. Grotius and Spencer think the author returns here to the Egyptians and their abominations, mentioned ch. xi. 15, 16. And indeed it must be confessed, that this and the following verses, to the end of the chapter, resemble the argument there very much, and would come in better in that place, if that was any authority for such a transposition ; for the mixing and confounding the Canaanites and Egyptians together in different parts of the chapter, without any certain marks of discrimi- nation, renders it obscure, and, without gréat care, scarce intelligible. As applied to the Egyp- tians, the sense is, that as they worshipped beasts, God punished them by a variety of living crea- tures. ‘Ver. 24. And held them for gods, which even among the beasts of their enemies were despised.] Orv UrorauCavorles 7a HY Coors TaY ex Spar arid, t. according to the common acceptation of this place, they worshipped such beasts as were de- spised and laughed at by their enemies, the He- brews, who in their sacrifices offered some of those very beasts which they worshipped as gods; which, in the opinion of some learned men, was purposely ordered and appointed to guard the Israelites against this idolatry. See Spencer De legg. Hebr. tom. i. p. 298. But probably our translation heré is wrong, and aripe ray tn bpar should be neither rendered, such beasts of their enemies as were despised, nor such beasts as were despised by their enemies, as Grotius, not without some violence, expounds the Greek; but, they held for gods despicable and mischie- vous beasts, such as dogs, cats, welves, serpents, crocodiles, hippopotami, and other the most odious creatures, which the poet justly calls por- tenta, see note on ch. xi. 15. as fit only to inspire horror, There is the like general charge, ch. xv. 18. and 7a lou 7a ¢xfsx are mentioned asthe THE BOOK OF WISDOM. _ Cuar. Bre] objects of their worship. he manner of ‘em pression indeed by two adjectives may seem pati ticular ; but this construction is not unusual%iq the Greek language, and is equivalent to draiayy, éxy§e. Nor am L singular in this interpretation} . Calmet understands the words in: the: satng manner, “ c’ est a dire, les animaux les plus'vil¥ les plus meprisables, & les plus ennemis de} homme.” Com. in loc. [I confess; I do ‘Tat understand by what construction rar ix Spar daiiie can signify &riua % éx ec, atid should be gladite' see an instance of it answerable to this, “The place, I believe, is faulty, the words rap éxbpdy, or any other in their room being quite supem fluous, as the sense is complete without any ad. dition to ra % é Cwos aria, “ esteeming as- gods, creatures that are vile, even among beasts,” See upon ch, xv. 18.] | : (Ibid. Kai 8 rar waamg odor waxporecor trrcrhOurdl, “* For they went away very far in the ways of error,” says our version: But this wouldhe iv vais waarns ddoig, NOt Tar waarns adar. Literally it is, “* For they erred farther than the ways'of error ;” which should mean, ‘ They out-ertéd even error itself.” But it cannot be imagined that the author intended, or wrote so. As-thé context now stands, the sense seems to require something directly contrary to oardrne, ‘viz! aanberac, Sixcsocurnc, Sc. and ameraarhbnoar, So'chi 5, 6. txrartOnuer ard she aandeac. Prov. xxic 16. arg wAMIO EVES & ode Sixavoouyne. The nearest ‘cons Jecture that occurs is, Kai 99 77 ands 33 woxporep tveracynoncay, ** For they wandered far in‘thé way of error.” i ae Ver. 25. Therefore unto them, as to childs without the use of reason, thou didst send a judg. ment to mock them.| Calmet understands this» of the Canaanites, that as they fell into>thé. most childish and ridiculous errors, by’ trans ferring that honour, which is due to God’ only, . to despicable animals, such as are described, Ezek. viii. 10. which the Israelites are su pésed to have taken from the Phoenicians or Canaai: . ites, God sent upon them in like manner’ chat. tisements seemingly as ridiculous, even an atmy of wasps, to attack, pursue, and destroy ‘them, | And the like may be observed of the Egyp- tians, that God treated them as children, w ie they resembled so much in their folly for a3 they pursued flies and little insects, sothese » 2 went after xwSaac creas, and were chastised th a suitable punishment. At first he played uh them, as it were, sending acompany, or swarms of inconsiderable flies, Exod. viii. 21.’ dallymg with them by mock judgments, in comparisoit Cuar. XII. for sol understand tiv xpiow ete turaryyer’ and the author seems to exemplify this play by a paro- nomasia, ora correspondent allusion in the ori- inal words, Sia r¥70 o¢ wauwiv riv xpiow ae tumrarypor éxutes. But Philo calls such idolaters by a more odious name than children, ‘* bestias o- bambulantes sub humana specie.”” This judg- ment is by the LXX styled xwouyar, Exod. viii. 21. Psal. Ixxviii, 45. as if a particular species of tormenting flies was meant; but this, in both places, is a corrupt reading ; the true one is indisputably xewougar. St Jerom accordingly reads Cenomyiam, and explains it by, ‘“ omne genus muscarum,”’ and so do the other Latin versions. Aquila, in both places, renders it wazuyar, and so the learned Usher un- derstands it, calling this plague ‘* muscarum & aliornm insectorum colluvies,’? ad A. M. 2513. See also De Muis on Psal. Ixxviii. 45. (The testimony of Philo is clear against this emenda- tion, Vit. Mos. i. p. 101. edit. Mang. where he gives the etymology of xuwduya thus, & zor otrets- Sesrav Cow ovvriirres Tuvoma, ping % xures. So in Athen. iii. 37. Ulpian calls Cynuleus o xuépya, by way of reproach, and in an illusion to his name. In. iv. 14. it is by mistake written xuvdnyst 4 xvvauya Nixwor, Nicium is the name of an harlot. Ver. 26. But they that would not be reformed by that correction wherein he dallied with them, shall feel a judgment worthy of God.) ‘This verse may be understood either as a moral reflection with respect to sinners in general in the future tense, ** That such as will not be reformed by those gentle methods wherein God may be said only to dally with them, shall afterwards feel a heavier, and much sorer vengeance :” And this is the sense of the Greek, and of thie Syriac and Arabic versions ; or it may respect the persons mentioned in the foregoing verses, that they, having slighted God’s milder punishments, at igs experienced a judgment worthy of God. 66 ignum Dei (leg. Deo) judicium. experti. sunt,” says the Vulgate, which Coverdale ser. vilely follows, even in this mistake, ‘* they felt the worthy punyshment of God.’? Grotius. says, that sapatver, which is the reading of some copies, is the true one, and that the pre- sent tense is used for the preeteritum. In this latter sense, the observation holds true with-re- spect to the Canaanites ;. for such of them as were not affected, nor brought toa right sense: by the’ plague and persecution of hornets, suf-. fered much.sorer calamities afterwards . in the wars, which Joshua waged against them, and THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 145 by their final extermination. As applied to the Egyptians, the remark is as just; at first God visited them with plagues, that were ra- ther noisome than destructive to them, (for we do not read of the death of any useful crea- tures, except fishes, till the plague of the mur- rain,) but these had little or no effect upon them ; for Pharaoh, as Dr Jackson expresses it, tom. ili. p. 204. behaved himself under them. like a proud and wanton humourist, and was still for experiencing a greater variety of them ; God therefore visited him with more and more grievous plagues, and: at length terribly com- pleted his vengeance, and filled up the mea- sure of their punishment, by those two unpa- ralleled judgments, the death of their first- born, and the destruction of Pharaoh, and all his host in the Red Sea. Ver. 27. Fur look for what things they grudg- ed when they were punished, (that is) for them whom they thought to be gods; (now) being pu- nished in them, when they saw it, they acknow- ledged him to be the true God, whom before they denied to know, and therefore came extreme dam- nation upon them.| Our translation here is so confused and so clogged with parentheses, that it is very difficult to come at the true sense of this place ; and as no light is afforded us either from the old translations, Oriental versions,. or. commentators, we must have recourse to the Greek text itself, and from thence, obscure as it is, endeavour to find out the author’s mean- ing. The present reading of the Greek, ac- cording to all the copies, is, Eg of 58 avroi wac- xorlec nyarax}ey, tol Turow ve ioxwy Osuc, ty auTole xov= alousror, iaevieg By wanas nprev]o edéras, Oedy ixiyrwcar: candi 34 % 76 ripua rig xaladinne tr avruc taal. The Vulgate renders, ‘In quibus enim pati- entes indignabantur, per hac quos putabant Deos,. in ipsis cum exterminarentur, videntes illum quem olim negabant se: nosse,: verum Deum agnoverunt,” &c. This.is very obscure; Junius is still more unintelligible, ‘*-Nam de quibus illi, quum perpeterentur mala, cum indignatione erant solliciti, de iis, inquam, quos putabant Deos, quam se iisdem puniri viderunt, verum agnoverunt Deum,” &c. Vata- blus renders much more clearly, ‘ lis ipsis re- bus quas passi sunt indignabundi Chananzi,. cum per ea que ut Deos colebant punirentur, tandem suo malo agnoverunt: verum Deum esse, quem ante negabant se nosse.”’ ¢. e. ‘* The Canaanites being displeased: ands angry at what they suffered, when they were punished. by those animals, whom they thought to be 146 gods,, at Icngeth being made sensible by their misfortunes, acknowledged there was a true God,” &c. This is very intelligible, and comes. > near the true sense; but I cannot help observ- ing, that Vatablus omits é& vrei, and Berle, which immediately follow, and are the very words which occasion all the obscurity in the origi- nal and the other versions, as they now stand. T have therefore been tempted to suspect that there is some mistake in them, and that the true reading probably is, tavive xonaQoutnus iorles, Or ty avrcic noralouiree ierlec; and my reasons are as follow: 1. The Bishops and Geneva Bible both render, ‘* when they saw themselves pu- nished by them.”? 2. Junius, who, in the o- ther part of the verse, follows the Greek 4iter- ally, renders, ‘* quuin se tisdem puniri vide- runt.’ 3. Calmet, and the Port Royal Com- ment, explain it in this manner, ‘se voyant avec douleur tourmentz & exterminez,” §c. The sense then of the first part of the verse I take to be this: ‘* For whereas when corrected only they were displeased and angry, seeing themselves yet more severely dealt with, and punished in good earnest by, or upon, account of those whom they thought to be gods, they acknowledged the true God, whom before they denied to know,”? &c. (The difficulty of this passage (which I believe stands here as it came from the author’s pen) seems ‘chiefly owing to the words i avr, which are repeated (not ne- cessarily indeed, -but) by a repetition, which is usual in most authors, and to be found in the New Testament in very many places. The construction is this : Kaaacpevor 5 él rezone ug ibd- sy Owe, ip’ ofc avtol nyavaxley wacxerlec [xoradsperor ] iy auroic, iSevlec, bv @ranas ngrwlo eadérar, Ociv, txéyracar danéi. ‘The.sense (to which the version may easily be reformed) is this: ‘¢ For being pu- nished by those very things, which they look- ed upon as gods, by which to suffer, they, as being their votaries, took it very ill; being punished, I say, by those, they perceived God, whom before they denied to know, and acknow- ledged him to be the true God: For which ‘very purpose this severe punishment had been inflicted upon them by him.” Tac yorle¢ nyarax)er iS nyavaxluy tavrwe wacxey, as in Soph. Philoct. p. 408. Edit. Canter. Ken of} trau'por vexpor, a. e. tavlov ivaipay, ** nequenovitse occidere mortuum 2”? St Paul, 2 Cor. x. 12. Merpvr]es ¥ ourrsaw, 2. e. ‘¢ They do not understand, or consider, that they measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with (or to) themselves.” Where our version in the contextis very faulty : THE BOOK QF WESBOM,~ ~- Cuar.. X> Somewhat. better in the margin.] .The «nexg difficulty, lies in rendering 13. répuce ric. xeladnag, by ‘* extremne damnation,” it might. have: been better translated, ‘* the utmost extent of judge ment,” or ‘* the severest temporal . judgment or punishment ;” (though St Austin on Pgaly, ix. quoting this passage, understands it stricts ly) but L take it to be no more than cz eg xpioe in the verse before, as opposed to qarrig emriphoewe, ** slight corrections which they: were displeased with :” But when it came properly to punishment, when they saw themselves xo. axtouévse, then they .were awakened to an ac. knowledgment of the true God, who had thus punished them ; and therefore it was that thig last and most effectual method was taken with:. them ; Ad xa? 75 Tipu Tit xoladinne tx’ auvrec xia, i. e. “ when the dallyings of correction would, not do, punishment in full measure was giveny. which had the effect.” This divine vengeance when it fell so severely upon them, made them: open their eyes; when they saw and feltit, then, and not before, they acknowledged him, to be the true God, whom before they denied. to know; and therefore, or for this end and , purpose that they might acknowledge him were they thus severély visited ; not only aii athematized and exterminated, but “ interne. cione deleti,”? as Grotius renders, ‘ ‘cut off with an utter and final destruction.” Commi, in loc. This is spoken in vindication Of ‘the justice of God, who does not punish particular persons or nations, without weighty reasons, and previous notices of their danger. ‘This ex« treme severity therefore was at length necessaty that those who had continued in wilful blind- ness and incorrigible obstinacy, and so were » without excuse, might be convinced and mide thoroughly sensible, that they had ‘brought this damnation upon themselves, for not'dis covering all the while the true God, when, they had such awakening means afforded ‘them'for that purpose. And thus I think a pretty gdod and consistent sense may be fetched from this verse, which has none at all, ora very obscure one, according to our version, Caliict‘under- ‘stands this’ of the Canaanites, ‘* that\ seeing themselves persecuted, afflicted, tormented by hornets, which they regarded as deities} aad from whom they expected favour and préttc+ tion, they were at length forced to acknowled the God of the Hebrews for the only true God.” Not that they actually on this account turned? from their idolatry, but, notwithstanding she force of inveterate prejudice, were obliged t0 Cuar. XIE. THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 147 own the superiority of the God of Israel, and are we to understand vain dy nature? I think by consequence’ tHat the little animals they if this be the true reading, it either means, that worshipped were contemptible, Iess than no- such men are naturally weak and senseless who thing, and their religion gross superstition. are ignorant of God; or that they are foolish Juniusand many others, apply it to Pharaohand who cannot, by the light of nature, make a dis- the Egyptians, who could insolently say, when covery of him. But perhaps yuce may be a the hand of God lay not very heavy upon him, mistake here, for neither the Vulgate nor Orien- ‘© who is the Lord that [should obey his voice? tal versions, nor Coverdale’s translation, take I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel any notice of it; possibly the original word was go,” Exod. v. 2. But when he and his peo- ast, Which they all agree in, and retain. And, ple were visited by a succession of plagues and the true reading of the whole sentence in the judgments, and the land was corrupted by the Greek may be paraso piv 8 wares anearral cow, cierep grievous swarms of flies, he as remarkably re- 1 Ow dyros/e. [Perhaps aepvxaow (if any change lents, and gives them leave to go and offer sa- is to be made,) the first syllable having been crifice to the Lord their God, Exod. viii. 25. sunk in the last of aIoa70, the foregoing word. ] But as there is no authority in history, that Calmet seems to understand by garam, insigni- the Egyptians worshipped the very insects, or jicant, unprofitadle, in the sense that vanity is animals, that God plagued them with, and as used by Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. this author particularly mentions their being His reflection upon this place, Comm. in loc. is’ ‘© tormented with their own abominations,’ too just and useful to be omitted: “ Without Sit ray ior BYavlucror; IJ am inclined to think the knowledge of God, which is the first prin- with Calmet, that the Canaanites are rather ciple of wisdom, truth, and religion, all men, here meant, and that they are’spoken of through even the greatest, are vanity and nothing; all this whole chapter. | ; science is but darkness, all philosophy ertor and CHAP. Xi. delusion. Hence St Paul renounced all other . knowledge, and determin i Tue Arcument.—From the mention of the bar- 4 J me Ae A hi “i eae a3 eee barous and idolatrous rites of the Canaanites, are een : was the superior excellency of divine knowledge expressed inthe former chapter, the author takes ° . ae : : : .. which best dis * occasion to treat of idolatry in general, its in- 7 covérs the nature of God, that in ‘ . : duced Justin Martyr, after having tried all the ieduchow ata, Origa 3 Of the waitity, folly, sects of philosophers, and entered into all sorts. impotence, or rather nothingness of idols, and oe human learning, to relinquish them as un- the mischievous effects attending such a wor- .oi:-F.ctory: He was at len ey convinced, that ship. He distinguishes idolatry into three sorts ; ig ae te pe ee Dre 14 Ss mmc d , there is no wisdom, science, or philosophy that of the beavenly bodies ; images of deceased complete and perfect, without the discovery, Pens beroes, and benefactors, and living knowledge, and worship of God.” Dial cum: brute animals. The first sort he treats of Tryph. in oe ‘ . : in the beginning of this chapter to ver. 10. isd. ; ; : id. And could not out of the good things that and from thence, to the end of the fift centh are seen know him that is.] si o. i.e “ The chapter, be considers the two other. Nor is ae ig : ; : 3 . 2, , sovereign Being, the only Being, or Being itself.” this a digression or deviation from bis p Pineal 0 the first revelation which God rakes of his and main design, which is to exalt wisdom, ; ae : mn i gm: Dirty, and teue religions anbte eneitl @ Iowe ow Being, he entities himself, J am that I ain ; ‘ A : by which name the great Creator does, in 2 and regard for them in all, especially princes . . ’ : manner, exclude every thing else from a real and great men. And can this be done more exitence, and distumikhes anal? 4 his effectually, than by shewing the folly and illu- . & epee A Ee Sion of superstition, exposing the false objects of worship, and pointing out the mischiefs and unbappy consequences which a forgetfulness of ignorance of the true God leads men to. URELY vain are all men by nature who are ignorant of God.] Mare pir wales arpores gvces, oi¢ wapiy Ow ayvwoto. ‘That idolaters are called vain persons in Scripture is beyond dispute ; sse 2 Kings xvii, 15. Rom. i. 21. But how. creatures, as the only Being which truly and really exists. ‘The ancient Platonic notion a- grees with this revelation which God has made of himself; for there is nothing, according to that, which in reality exists, whose existence, as wecallit, is pieced, or made up of past, present, and to come. He only properly exists, whose existence is entirely present. Hence Plato calls God 72 ty, in Timeeo, which probably he borrowed. froma Moses, Exod. iii. 14. and Justin Martyr, . 148 who once embraced that philosophy, has often the same expression. By knowing God, is not barely meant that there is a God, but the dis- covery likewise of the excellence and beauty of his perfections, his goodness, wisdom, and other attributes, which the visible world every where proclaims; for in all creatures there are such lively marks and tokens of them, that from thence we may form some, though imperfect, idea of the inexpressible and infinite perfections that are in God. For the whole extent of that which may be known of God, the 78 yrasiy 73 Ore, as St Paul calls it, Rom. i. 19, 20. is manifest in the creatures, and the invisible things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen in them. St Basil therefore very justly calls the world, Groyrasiae wadevInpiey, “* The very school where the knowledge of God is to be learned.” AndClemens Alexandrinus, “the book in which we read God,” using the same expres- sive metaphor, Strom. 6. This knowledge of the Deity from the works of nature, is what some call natural theology, and others, the as- cent of the soul to God by the scale of the crea- tures. Nor would any injury be done to the sense, if instead of riy ¢rla, we read tiv Sea, i. e. “And, from the good things they saw, could mot trace out the God that gave them ;” for thus ayador and %oJe answer to one another, as épyos and ztxvirn do in the following line. Ibid. Neither by considering the works, did they acknowledge the workmaster.| The know- ledge of God was no difficult discovery, and therefore ignorance of him was not only sur- prising, but inexcusable ; for a man need only lift up his eyes to heaven, and view the beau- tiful order and regular motions of the celestial bodies, to be convinced that there is a wise Au- thor of nature, who at first created, and still preserves this system of things. St Cyprian therefore very justly observes, ‘‘ Hzc est sum- ma delicti nolle agnoscere quem ignorare non possis.” De Idol. vanit. But that of St Chry- sostom comes nearest this writer, évo/ncer vpariy 6 Otis, tra Savprcag ri epyor wpocxurtone tov Seororny x. 7.». * Coelum condidit Deus ut opus admirans dominum adorares: at alii, conditore relicto, ceelum ipsum adorarunt, id vero propter eorum ignaviam & insipientiam accidit.” Hom. 25. De diabolo tentatore. Thus Cicero expresses the natural sense of mankind on this head; “ Cum videmus speciem primum candoremque ceeli, deinde conversionis celeritatem, tum vi- cissitudines dierum atque noctium, commuta- tionesque temporum quadripartitas, eorumque THE BOOK OF WISDOM, Cuan, XU) omnium moderatorem solem, lunamque, :8& stellas eosdem cursus constantissime servantess, hxc cum cernimus, possumusne dubitare: quia. his presit aliquis effector?” Tuscul. Quzest;. lib. i. But it would be almost endless to.tran. scribe the many passages that occur in his works upon this subject, particularly in his book, De Nat. Deorum. . Ver. 2. But deemed either fire.] It is certain; there were some among the heathen who wor. shipped universal nature, or the system of the material world, as an entire object, and made- God and nature to be the same; see Pliny’s Nat. Hist. lib. ii. c. 7. And others who wor. shipped particular visible and useful parts of ir, which was the more general, the chief of which, are enumerated by this writer; and the first is, the element of fire. That this was the pre. vailing worship in the eastern countries among, the Persians and Chaldeans ; see Pocock’s Spee;. Hist. Arab. Hyde De relig. vet., Pers. Strabo, lib. xv. Selden observes, ** Tametsi multi Per., sarum Dii, tamen ante omnes ignis ab eis cultus, & in omni sacrificio eum imprimis invocabant,". Syntag. ii. cap. 8. And a little after, to shew the very ancient worship of fire among the Chaldzans, he says, that the rabbins, by Ur of the Chaldees, Gen. xi. 31. understand their god fire; and that, according to Maimonides, it means ¢erra deserviens igm. This he takes to be the God of Nahor, Gen. xxxi. 53.-and the chief among the strange gods worshipped. in Chaldea during Abraham’s abode there, Josh. xxiv. 2. We read also of horses and chariots consecrated to the sun by some of the kings of Judah, 2 Kings xxiii. and of twenty-five apos- tates, “ that worshipped the rising sun towards the east, even in the temple of the Lord,” Ezek. viii. 16, The eastern nations worshipped fire as the cause of light, and the sun in particular, as being, in their opinion, the perfectest fire, and causing the perfectest light. For this rea- - son, in all their temples, they had fire continu. ally burning upon altars erected in them for- that purpose, and before these sacred fires they offered up all their public devotions, as likewise, they did their private ones before fires in their ° own houses, Prid. Connect. Part. i.. B. 3. As. fire among these nations was a symbol. of the’ sun, so the sun itself probably was a symbol ‘of God, as being thought the most perfect emblem of his divinity, and to convey. the most lively idea of the power, beauty, purity, and eternity of God; but at length this expressive and noble: symbol was misunderstood and abused, and:the Cuap. XIII. worship transferred to the sign itself from the Being represented by it. Vulcan and Vesta, in the Pagan theology, originally meant nothing but fire. Thus Ovid: Nec tu aliud Vestam, nisi vivam intellige fammam. And the name itself the learned have derived from wx Jynis. At length it was made one of the Du Penutes, and uncommon honours decreed to it by the appointment of Numa Pompilius. Ibid. Or wind.] The four principal winds were esteemed as gods by many people, by others particular winds were acknowledged as such. ‘The Gauls worshipped the wind cercius ; and, according to Seneca, Augustus when in Gaul, dedicated a temple to it, Nat. Quest. lib. v.c.17. The Egyptians adored the symbols of the Etesian and Southern winds, which were most beneficial to them, and of the utmost con- sequence with respect to the overflowing of the Nile. The worship paid to the winds seems, in general, to have sprung from an ancient tradi- tion, that the winds were governed by angels set over them, andrulingin them. From what Virgil says of /Eolus’s presiding over the winds, féneid. lib. i. it appears that this notion is very ancient ; so thatit is no wonder that in the sym- bolical learning and theology of the eastern na- tions, intelligent beings, or angels should be in- troduced as commanding and directing them. The Targum on 1 Kings xix. 11. as quoted by Lightfoot, expressly mentions the angels of the winds. Ibid. The wind, or the swift air.] 1 onvpe, 1 raxwoy apex. Grotius understands this quite con- trary to our version; by oxtu« he understands the air, and by raxuir aépa, the swift wind ; where it is observable, that he applies the epithet to the wind, rather than air. The Arabic version renders in like manner, “ sed ignem, aut rapidos ventos aérem aut astrorum orbem,” &c. as if the original reading wasn onips rayiir, 1 aipae And indeed swiftness is the known epithet of the wind ; hence we mect with the wings of the wind in Scripture, to denote their rapidity. Hence probably the Egyptians made birds the symbols of the winds, as esteeming them the most natural emblems, upon account of the great swiftness with which they cross the air. But swiftness does not seem always to belong to the air, as such, the state of which varies accord- ing to its qualities. If indeed we understand by the air, the zether, or that fine, fluid agitated, and most subtile part, which permeates the pores of all bodies, and is supposed to be the cause of all motion and fermentation, which an- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 140 ciently the heathens called Zev or Jupiter, rz. xy in this sense will not be impraper. But it is generally taken here to signify the clouds ; and this Juno, for so the ancients called the grosser air, was not without her adorers and vo- taries. Even Socrates is accused in the poet for worshipping the clouds, Aristoph. in Nub. and Juvenal charges the Jews with the same folly : Nil prater nubes, &F coeli Numén adorant. Sat. xiv. Coverdale’s version makes the wind, or the swit’ air, to be the same, Some toke the fyre, some the wynde or ayre .... for goddes. ‘“ We know from Sanconiathon, that the Tyrians had a pillar sacred to wind, or air in motion, as well as they had to fire; built, as they said, by Usous, the son of Hypsouranias, which fire and wind they worshipped as gods.” Forbes’s Works, p. 199. “ Hence the eagle’s soaring flight, and commerce thereby with the air, brought that bird to be the emblem of air, and such as imagined a divinity in the air, in clouds, in winds, took that bird to represent their deity :” Ibid. p. 201. Ibid. Or the circle of the stars.| 1. e. The con- stellations, according to Calmet and Grotius ; by which some understand the Pleiades; others the constellations in the Zodiac, called here, from the asterisms in it, and its glorious figure, the starry circle ; many of which are known to have been worshipped particularly by the Egyptians.-, Selden seems to have been of this opinion, “ 7Z- gyptiis priscis Dodecatemoria signiferi Sco? Bva- aio, seu Dii Consiliarii, Planete vero lictores, qui-accensi Solis consistorio adstent, censeban- tur. Teste vetere ad Apollonii Rhodii Argo- nauticon IV scholiaste.” Seld. De Cult. extran. primord. cap. iii. But as the article is wanting before xvxacy, it,.may as well mean some other groupe of stars. This was a very ancient idola- try, and spread farther than most other super- stitions. The Israelites are in Scripture often charged with paying their adoration to the host of heaven, i. e. to the stars, of whom the sun and moon were esteemed the leaders, which they seem to have fallen into by the infection of the neighbouring nations. This worship sprung from an early notion, that the stars were tabernacles or habitations of intelligences, which animated those orbs in the same manner as the soul of man animates his body, and were the causes of all their motions. But the planets, being nearest to the earth, and generally looked upon to have the greatest influence on this world, the hearhens made choice of these, in the first place, for their gods. Hence we find Saturn, 150 Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Mercury, Venus, and Diana, to be first ranked in the polytheism of the ancients, as being their first and principal deities. See Prid. Connect, Part i. Book iii. p, 140. Fol. Edit. Ibid. Ov the violent water.] ‘The heathens had likewise a multitude of sea and river gods, as Oceanus, Neptune, Thetis, Triton, Nereus, &c. Homer speaks of the rivers of Troy, Simois and Scamander, as two deities. It is certain that the Egyptians esteemed the Nile as their god, cal- led it & iegoraroe Neinoc, and that they worshipped the water, above the other elements, as being, ‘in their opinion, the principle of all things. Hence, says Philo, God first smote their water, and turned it into blood, De vit. Mos. lib. i. Suidas humorously tells the story of a famous contest between the Chaldeans and Egyptians about the strength and power of their respective deities, fire and water, 7 voce Karwaes: see also Shaw’s Travels, where it is related ; and Grego- ry’s notes, p. 222. Tully’ has, in few words, comprised the several objects of false worship, “ Erat persuasum etiam solem, lunam, stellas omnes, terram, mare, Deos esse.” Ibid. Or the lights of heaven to be the gods which govern the world.| The. sun and moon were worshipped in different places by very dif- ferent names ; see Vossius de Orig. [dol. lib. ii. c. 5. It was the sun whom one country wor- shipped under the name of Baal, another of Chemosh, and others of Mithras and Osiris, which last was the name given to it by the Egyptians, among whom the sun was worship- ped in the famous city of Heliopolis, which pro- bably took its name from thence, Macrob. Sa- turn. lib. i. The moon was likewise worship- ped under different names, as Hecate and Dia- na; the same was most probably the Egyptian Isis, the Assyrian Astarte, or Astaroth, and the Greek llithyia. Egypt was early infected with idolatry, especially of the sun and moon, as ap- pears from Diodorus Siculus, and Lucian De Dea Syria. Though it is more probable that Babylon was the mother of this kind of idolatry, and from thence the contagion spread through Egypt, Assyria, Phoenicia, and other parts of the world. The sun was the most glorious ob- ject that ravished the eye, and it shewed itself no where more glorious than the plains of Chal- dza. Some learned men think that the tower of Babel was consecrated by. the builders to the sun, as the most probable cause of drying up the mighty waters. Tenison on Idol. c. iv. who. acquaints us, from Julius Firmicus, that the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuar. XAY Egyptians expressed their devotions tc the'suy in this form: “ Sol. Opt. Max. mens mundj:. dux omnium princepsque.” Ver. 3. With whose beauty, if they being dei lighted’ took them to be gods, let them know how much better the Lord of them is ; for the firs author of beauty hath created them.} Covers’ dale’s version of this place seems preferable; ** though they had such pleasure in their beaws ty, that they thought them to have been goddes; yet shulde they have knowen, how. much more fayrer he is that made them, for the maker of beauty .hath ordened al these thynges, ye expxnc, the original, the founder,’ the parent of beauty hath created them, « ip samet nature pulchritudinis origo,” says the Vulgate ; nor does St Austin express this word amiss by ‘* Pulchritudo pulchorem omnium 2% Confess. Lib. iii. cap. 6. Plato, who himself calis these glorious luminaries, uéyaaor Oto), says)’ that the Greeks formed the word ii from the verb Xe, in Cratyl. for looking up to heaven, and considering the brightness and glory of the celestial bodies, running their several courses; with the most wonderful harmony and order, they entertained in their minds, so very high and exalted notions of them, that they wete tempted even to an idolatrous worship of them. And other learned men observe, that they gavel the name of xécuor to the world, from observing! the beauty and ornaments of it. St ‘Teron’ Comm. in Jon. c. i. Caesar assigns this as the! reason of the Germans worshipping the host'of heaven, ‘* Germani Deorum numero eos soldg! ducunt, quos cernant, & quorum aperte ‘opi-' bus juvantur, Solem, & Vulcanum, & Lunath? lib. vi. De bello Gal. It is generally agreed;", that the worship of these luminaries was the’ first idolatry ; it is certain that the only kind of idolatry mentioned in the book of Job, afd’ therefore we may presume of all others the most’ ancient, is the worship of the sun and mooft; “If [ beheld the sun when it shined,” says’ that holy writer, ‘“‘ or the moon walking i® - brightness, and my heart hath been secretly’ - enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand’{in” token of adoration, and from whence ‘indeed” the very term itself is derived ; see Selden: De® cult. extran. primord. cap. iii.) this also weft” an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for then 1 should have ‘denied the God that‘is-a" bove,” chap. xxvi. 26, 27, 28. This jidola?® trous practice of his time he opposes, by assert | ing God to be the Maker of these vety bodies, and that ‘ by his Spirit he hath garnished. the” . ats Pe Pu) Cerrar. XIE heavens,” xxvi. 13: See Vossius De Idol. lib. ii. c. 5. Sharrock, p. 326. The: inference of ‘this writer is very just, that, instead of wor- shipping the heavenly bodies, which, like those of the intellectual world, were all created by God, and for him, they should rather have con- cluded that there was a first cause, the author and fountain of that. perfection and glory, which are displayed in any, or all the crea- tures ; see note on the latter part of next verse. Ver. 4. But if they were astonished at his pow- er and virtue.] It was a very ancient opinion, and a received tradition of paganism, that the gods had their mansions in the cayéa re xcoue, or ** the celestial bodies,” and that the lumin- aries of heaven were all alive and instinct with a glorious and divine spirit. For the adoration they paid to the sun and moon, they paid it not to them, as mere inanimate bodies, but as intelligences, or the supposed habitations of such beings; which seems evident from this verse, addressed to the sun ‘ "Hiass 9 os whee ioe, 1 wevt’ traxter. We have an intimation likewise of this notion in Virgil, A®neid vi. Spiritus intus agit, totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem, {5 magno se corpore miscet. From this notion they inferred, that it would be a thing pleasing to the supreme God, to ad- dress themselves to him by the mediation of | these glorious intelligences, which they thought so much nearer to him than theinselves, and to have the greatest influence upon the world. This conceit, seconded with pretended revela- tions and miracles, said to be done by the saxae, Or heavenly bodies in time brought forth sacrifices to them, and images of them, by means whereof great blessings, they thought, might be procured to them through*their pow. er and influence. Maimon. De Idol. Thorn- dike’s Epilogue, p. 287. ; Ibid. Let them understand by them how much mightier he is that made them.| Coverdale’s ver- sion is here again preferable, ‘* or yf they mar- velled at the power and workes of them, they shuld have perceaved thereby that he whiche made these. thynges is myghtyer than they.” For notwithstanding the regular courses of these heavenly bodies, and their dispensing life and heat, health and vigour to all the parts and pro- ducts of the earth, yet they should not so en- tirely have depended upon their sight, nor have been so far led. by their own imaginations, as to offer an idolatrous worship to beings, which THE BOOK OF. WISDOM. 15% a little philosophy and the assistance of im- proved reason might have informed them, had themselves been nade, and consequently were by nature no gods. How much rather ought they, from the origin and the effects of these -heavenly -bodies, to have concluded and adored the infinite power and most transcendens per- fections of the great Creator of them, the father and fountain of these lights, from whom they received all that is glorious or beneficial in them, and must therefore be infinitely more ex- cellent? St Austin has some beautiful senti- ments upon this head, ‘ Si placent corpora, Deum ex illis lauda, & in artificem cornm re- torque amorem, ne in his que bi placent, tu displeceas Hunc amemus, hune amemus, ipse fecit hac, & non est longé.”” Confess. lib. iv. cap. xi. 12. and in another place, from the gifts discernable in the creatures, he dedu- ces the perfecticn of the giver, ‘* Tu, Domine, fecisti ea; qui pulcher es, pulchra sunt enim ; qui bonus es, bona sunt enim ; quies, sunt e- nim. At nec ita pulchra sunt, nec ita bona sunt, nec ita sunt, sicut tu, conditor eorum: cui comparata, nec pulchra sunt, nec bena sunt, nec sunt. Scimus hec; gratias tibi. Et sci- entia nostra scientia tuze comparata, ignoran- tia est.”” Confess. lib. xi. c. 4. Ver. 5. For, by the greatness and beauty of the creatures, proportionably the maker of them is seen.] ‘The Greek copies vary here; the Complut. reads tx 58 peyiOec, ¥ xaanve, % xlisuarer ttrardya¢, x. r. A Which Junius follows, ‘* Naim ex magnitudine, & specie, ac creatis rebus conve- nienter,”? &c. and our version, with a little al- teration, The Vatican edition has éx 58 peyébse xaanoric isparay avarsyes, x. r. . and thus the Sy- riac renders, i. e. by the greatness of the beau- ty of the creatures, the maker of them is seen proportionably, or by analogy, by comparing the creature with the Creator, the effect with the cause, as far as the difference is capable of being known cognoscibiliter, according to the Vulgate, and as the natures of the beings com- pared will admit, which probably is what Ju- nius means by convenienter, and as the. ratio be- tween finite and infinite, if any such could be, will allow, St Chrysostom quotes this passage of our author, and has the following just re- flection upon it ; Ges 73 jéyeboe, Savuacor, tiv sures pw re worhoarlog. edeg TE KaAAROC, Exmadynds. Tiv coplar 1 noouncavioc, = Ver. 6. But yet for this they are the less to be blamed ; for they peradventure err seeking God, and desiring to find him.| Coverdale’s version ig 152 clearer ; “* notwythstandyng they are the lesser to be blamed that seek God, and wolde fynd hym, and yet mysse.”” But that of the Geneva Bible is preferable here ; ‘“ But yet the blame is lesse in those that seck God, and would find him, and yet peradventure do err.” A compa- rison is here made between the worship of the heavenly bodies, and that of statues and ima- ges. The former has most to be said in its de- fence, though far from excusable, because these luminaries are glorious and magnificent, have a visible and apparent beauty, and sensible vir- tue, power, and benefit issuing from them, and therefore are worshipped for their own sakes, and the advantages which the world receives from them. But what merit of any sort is in an image, or what pleasure or profit can be drawn from it? which at best is a representa- tion only, and perhaps of some thing or person in itself worthless or disgraceful. If the wor- ship therefore of the former is not to be excus- ‘ed, as it follows, ver. 8. the worship of the lat- ter is much more to be condemned, because nothing is a greater dishonour to God, than to suppose him like the image of a corruptible creature, or the product of man’s art or inven- tion. There is this farther to be alledged in mitigation of their error who worshipped the heavenly bodies, that the creatures which they worshipped they looked upon to be eminent representations of the most glorious attributes ot the deity: they worshipped the host of heaven, because they are visible representations of his glory and eternity; and the elements, because they represented his benign, sustain- ing, and ubiquitary presence. Philo compares the adoration of the sun, moon, and stars with other instances, and particularly with the wor- ship of statues and images, and has the very same sentiments with this writer, ‘* Peccant proculdubio,” speaking of the former, “* dum, posthabito principe, venerantursubditos; minus tamen a recto declinant, quam qui ligna, lapi- des, argentum, aurum similesque materias ver- tunt in statuas & simulachra,” 8c. Ver. 8. Howbeit, neither are they to be par- doned.] [Maaw 8, but on the other band, i. e. in answer to this objection, xvi. 23. See ‘Taylor upon Lysias, p. 80. Edit. Lond.] Though there are these mitigating circumstances in some measure to lessen the guilt of the worshippers. of the heavenly host, yet is their offence very grievous. For, to instance in. the sun himself, which undoubtedly, is. the most glorious and perfect, what property has he of divinity ? He THE BOOK ‘OF: “WISDOM. Citar, SEE is neither self-existent, nor sufficient to cone tinue his own’ being. And though he'm warm and cherish the earth, yet can neitherofthe luminaries, nor both jointly of themselves duce either corn grass, or fruit. ' Itis theréfite wisely conjectured by some learned men, tht one reason why Moses, inthe history of* the creation, particularly mentions, that the ftuits of the earth and the trees yielding fruit¢were produced on the third day of the creation, ‘Gen; 1, LL. and the sun and the moon not until'the fourth day, ver. 14, was, to guard against the worship of them; that men might not thidk the influence of those celestial bodies to:be'the cause of the growing of these fruits, bat“the power and providence of God; see St Amby Hex. lib. iv. and Philo, TWegi xéouv. For thisiwag asensible argument to the Jews and other, that these heavenly bodies which the heathetis paid their devotions to, were only: seconday and instrumental causes in the hand of God and that he could have supplied mankind with all the produce of the earth without them: | Nor is it without a weighty reason, that-the sun, in the Hebrew language, is called shemesh, i.e. a minister or servant, Deut. iv. 19, Teal,” Ix. 20. Joel ii. 10. which very nameelone should. have kept all that understood its’ meat ing, from worshipping that luminary’; dnd even some Jews seem to have fallen‘ into-thls idolatry, from what Ezekiel Says, Vili. 16.cAphO are there reproved for turning their facesterthe east for this very purpose. es ae Ver. 9. For if they were able to know so much, that they could aim at the world.|’ The sens whichis most common and received of sexarde@lt tir aiove is, that if they could give so goodia, guess at the world, the beauty ofthe heavenly bodies, and the effect and influence whichthey. have upon the earth, could dive into ‘thevyse crets of nature, as the cause of winds, ftex of the sea, violence of earthquakes, nature’ of af. mals, &c. might they not have discovered;iby: the same search of reason and happy conjeo ture, the Lord and Maker of the universe? For there seems less study and’ meditation Te quired to know that the beautiful framiesof things. which we see was not ‘by’ chancdyot self-produced, but the work of an ‘Atmigoy Creator, than is. necessary to penetrate inewsne mysteries of the natural world, ‘and. usiravel! thé causes of such surprising events. / But -proe bably soxdonsas Tay aiora.is a mistake, for ane afouas has génerally, if not always, in thrssens% a genitive case in the most approved! writerst Guar. XII. and therefore tiv aiare seems wrong in this re- spect, as well as in regard to r¥7av, which fol- lows. .The true reading seems to be zor avo. Besides, this expression answers very well to the things mentioned in the second verse, which belong to the upper regions. Whereas aiay signifies principally duration. Perhaps the transcribers might mistake «vw for aay contract- ed; such abbreviations being usual in manu- scripts. [In the original, Ei 8 recvror texveay divas, va Suvorras soxacacSo: tiv aioe, &c. ‘The word. eta: is superfluous, or worse, because of sexacacSai, which immediately follows. Per- haps it was brought hither from ver. 1. For that St Austin did not ftnd it in his copy is probable from Confess. v. 3. where he ailudes to this place, thus: ‘* Qui tantum potuerunt valere (icxveay) ut possent wstimare seculum, quanquam ejusdominum minime invenerunt:” Whence it likewise appears, that he read soxacasSa: Tor aiave, OF vs are. The true read- ing I should have thought to have been zay vner (which is the usual abbreviation of ¥par/or) had it not been for the passage of St Augustin, who wrote before such abbreviations were in use. But, I believe, the author wrote soxdcasSar vor aire, because Of t¥ra which follows. So Heb. xi. 3. Mise voeper xalnglicSa: ree aera pruoh Ow. .The verb soyacerSa:, if no other preposi- tion be joined with it, must have a genitive case, because the preposition xaJe is always un- derstood. | Ver. 10. And in dead things is their hope. | ij. e. in idols, which have no life, no know- ledge, no sensation. It is worth observing, that the original word for an idol signifies va- nity, a mere nothing, that which has no exist- ence. The primitive Christians, accordingly, looked upon the heathen temples as charnel houses, esteeming théir gods as dead men, ac- cording to that of Tertullian, Mortui § Dei un- um sunt. De Spectac. c. xiii. And thus some learned men explain iasparr r¥¢ expec, Deut. xviii. 11. according to the LXX, not of a mere ne- cromancer, who consulted familiar spirits, but of one that. enquires of the dead idols, which the heathens had set up in the nations round about the Israelites, in opposition to the living God: Shuckford’s Connect. vol. ii. p. 398. There may be also another interpretation given of this place, wbich is countenanced by the Vulgate, Coverdale’s, and the other ancient English versions, viz. that their hope is vain, fruitless, desperate, without any prospect of help, or remedy, like that of dead men, “ inter THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 135 mortuos spes illorum est,” according to the Vulgate. ‘Ils sont, says Calmet, comme des gens reduits au tombeau, sans secours, sans e- sperance.” As the hope of good men, or such as serve the true God after an acceptable man- ner, is, on the contrary, a sure and certain hope, a joyful confident assurance, a hope full of im- mortality, chap. iii. 4. Ibid. Gold and silzer to shew art in.] Xpusiv § apyuper rine tuuenernua, i. e. Some device, or mnven- tion of art. Coverdale’s and the old English versions put the comma after silver, and under- stand rixrng tupertryue, asa distinct particulartrom gold and silver before-mentioned, and render * golde, sylver, and the thynge that is founde out by connynge.” The Vulgate takes it in the same manner, and so does the Syriac ver- sion, and Calmet. I cannot help observing here, the very great resemblance which there is between this passage, and that of the Acts, ch. xvil. 29. Oux operrouer vopicery xpure 4 a pyuea ” ribo, xapayuals réxrne § tvbuuioews arfpwmn, 73 Seov eves oor, Ibid. Or a stone good for nothing, the work of an ancient hand.\ [In the original, perhaps, it might better be distinguished, and read thus : n riboy axpnsoy xerpie epyor apyalac are % TH vrorbpo¢, &c. “ Ora stone, the useless work of an an- cient hand: Or if a carpenter,” &c. I do not see what sense a & can make. The word are is to be understood in the 10th verse, as if it had been written, cre xpuodv § apyupoy xdor—eire J Tie 8 vroToucs—puriv ixapises, Sec, which is an u- sual ellipsis: “* Whether gold and silver, or a stone—or whether a carpenter, after he hath sawn down a tree,” &c. aypusor tpyor as wivor ax- apres, XV. 4. concerning the same thing.] The antiquity of the idol was thought of great im- portance ; its venerable rust added not a little to its divinity : Hence adoranda rubigo in the poet, applied to such things as time itself had, in a manner, consecrated, Juvenal, Sat. xiii. Even a stone badly cut has had a veneration’ aid to it, merely because it was ancient. Whole nations, says Calmet, have adored, for a succession of ages, an ancient block of marble, badly finished, or a figure in wood rotten and worm-eaten. But supposing the most complete piece of work, and that the hand of a Praxiteles, or a Phidias, stood plainly confest, yet cannot time though it may and does add a value to busts and medals, confer divinity, nor excuse the adoration paid to a piece.of senseless mat- ter, though beautified by art, dignified by a celebrated name, and recommended by the pre- 154 Scription-and authority of many ages. It may ‘not be unacceptable, perhaps, nor prt to the ‘occasion; to transcribe part of an epistle wrote by St Austin to the principal inhabitants of a city in} Africa, who had murdered a great number of Christians, because some of them were suspected to have taken away their god Hercules. That learned father expostulates with them upon this accident in these strong and pathetic terms: “ The barbarous treatment, which ye have offered to so many innocent persons, calls for vengeance from heaven and earth. Butas ye urge the affront and damage, which ye lave received, against the massacre we complain of, let us state, in a few words, the injuries on both sides: You object, that our god Hercules is taken away ; we are will- Ing to make you satisfaction ; we have money, stones, and workmen, ready to set about the work; they shall instantly cut you out ano- ther deity, and paint it too in like manner, and finish such a Hercules in its.stead, as you shall have no reason to complain of the difference. It is thus we restore your idol, it is thus we re- pair your loss: Give us now back, in return, the souls of those many innocents you. have murdered, and only to revenge the injured honour of a sorry lifeless piece of stone.” Aug. Epist. celxvii. ad Princip. Colon. Suffet. This instance shews the great veneration paid by the heathen to their statues, and how far superstition, or a blind devotion, will hurry men, even to sanctify murder. . [Ver. 11. Evxivfler gvliy is translated, @ tree meet for the purpose: Asif they had read céy- pnsor. The Compult. has evrnx}oy; which Bos thinks ought to be tizux}. Aldus’s edition reads txx/rn7as. Perhaps txxpiror or éxaexlir, a choice tree, one chosen for his purpose out of a num- ber. ] - Ver. 11, 12, 13.] The author in this and the following verses exposes, with great smartness of argument, the absurdity of image worship, by shewing their original, and the vileness of ‘the materials of which they are made: “ That an ordinary carpenter,” (whom he purposely fixes upon to shew the clumsiness and inele- ance of the work) “ having taken from a tree cut down, what was best and most, valuable, and fittest to be employed in some necessary jece of work; among the refuse, or rather the refuse of the refuse, for so 73 & avrdr. ersCanue signifies, fixes upon a knotty and coarse piece of ‘staff, such as he could otherwise make no ‘use of; and: this he thinks good enough to ‘THE BOOK’ OF WISDOM. Ghar. BD maken god off? ‘Horace, “in like? rit makes himself merry with a: worktiaé who! liberated whiether he should'make' a beneWPdra god of an offal piece of ‘wood, and at lady determined .it fora god: Matuit: essé:-Detde Serm. lib. i: Sat. 8. The'chief part of thistdé: scription is borrowed from Isaiah,’ chap:owky Jerem. chap. x. Baruch. chap. vi.’and Bows paraphrase upon jhose passages in the prophets, is equally applicable here: “ What -an. absur dity is it for a man to dress his meat, and make his god with the same stick of- wood > o¥tg think that a piece of timber hath any morédit vinity in it, than it had before, because’it ig fashioned, and carved into the figure of a than To give an account of the original of iinaged how and whence made, is alone safficiett-@ expose the folly of worshipping theni.-«“PWig argument the ancient apologists tor Chrigelini often insist upon, to shew the absurdity opt ' heathen idolatry ; but none of them more! pily than Minucius Felix in’ the’ folléwin words, and almost upon the like occasion, alt lowing only for the difference in the rater idle: * Quando igitur hic (Deus) nascitur 2! funditur, fabricatur, scalpitur: nonduth Deus est. Ecce plumbatur, construitur, “efibituft nec adhuc Deus est. Ecce ornatur; cofiseert. tur, oratur: tune postremo Deusests'éllin dit mo illum voluit & dedicavit ;? which; inMt Reeve’s most excellent translation; runs? thags * But when, pray, does it commenée ive Behold it is cast, fashioned, and ‘filed :- Wel, it is no god yet. Behold, it is sodderedt,-pat'te- gether, and set upon its legs: Well; it i9%n6, god yet. Behold, it is bedecked,' consecrated, prayed to; then, then at last behold-a cgi: plete god, after man hath vouchsafed!to «fake and dedicate him.” Thus: Arnobius, 1ibove who- was himself once a Pagan idolater, “and had, as he confesses, often asked dleshings, ‘nihil sentiente de ligno,” at-length makesthis just reflection upon such senseless ‘conduét “ At que dementia Deum credere quetit ‘tute ipse formaris, supplicare tremebundum’ fabrt catie abs te Rei?” This sort of ‘idolatry;“be sides its wickedness, hath sométhing: mitctoo very preposterous ; for should not the iddl' te: ther worship the maker than the’ iiakerrth image, since, in-some sort,'he may’ be'worisidér ed as the ereator of it?» Phild-lvasy E etyiwky' tie like observation, ** Certe:si' etror'plieuit, p tores & statuarit' magis= merebantur’at?anyfnes | honores acciperent ; nune, ! Ipsistcon eens pitts, et Cyae, XA. THE BOOK si nihil. egregium preestitissent, pro diis ha- bentureorymopera”. iA Ver. 13. When he had nothing else to do.] i.e. Postponing it to all other work, as thinking it of no great consequence, and then only taking itin hand when nothing better offered. Our version follows a copy which read iv éxruenciz &p- ylas avr, which some Latin translations render, “¢ diligentia otii sui ;’? and others, ** accurato otio:”? Other editions have tr ériuercta epyaciag av- a, which is likewise the reading of the Alexan- drian Manuscript ; and this the Oriental ver- sions seem most to favour. Ver. 14. Or made it like some vile beast, lay- ing it over with vermillion, and with paint, colouring tt red.j That it was usual thus to paint, and set off their images, see Ezek. xxiii. 14. Arnob. lib. vi.’ And no wonder that the dures, or lit- tle household deities, for such this writer seems here to mean, were so adorned, when Pliny ac- quaints us, that the face of the image of Jupiter was usually painted with vermillion, upon fes« tival days, and other grand occasions among the Romans: ‘ Jovemque a Censoribus mini- andum locari,”’ that the censors hired artists for that purpose; that Camilus, and other gene- rals, to whom the honour ofa public triumph was decreed, were painted in the like manner; and that, among the Ethiopians, ‘* Totos eo tingi proceres, huncque Deorum simalachris esse colorem.”? Plin. lib. xxxiil. ch. 6. and Calmet in loc. _[lbid. Covering every spot thereof. Maca aHALOG Thy ty avTe nalax pions. He had just before said xajxxplexs aiats. Whence | imagine, that he wrote here xolaxpdcas. Our version is not exact. | Ver. 15. And iwhen he had made a conzenient room for it, set it ina wall, and made it fast with iron.) This convenient room we may under- stand to be ashrine, which was a sort of little chapel, representing the form of a temple, with an image in it, which being set upon an altar, or fastened in a wall, or to some other place, the idol, when the doors were opened, was re- presented to.the worshippers as standing or sit- ting. in state. Coverdale’s, and some other an- cient versions, call this a tabernacle, following herein the Vulgate, which renders * faciens ei zdiculam illo dignam,” the very word used by Minycins Felix to express one of these shrines by. -And in this sense, probably, we may un- derstand the tabernacle of Molooh,. Acts vii. 43. for the, ew) mentioned there, was.a kind of little cabinet, wherein the image of the false OF WISDOM. ' 155 god was kept. And such [imagine those silver Shrines to be, rave apyupec, which Demetrius made for Diana, Acts xix. 24. Isaiah likewise mentions the silver chains by which these idols were fastened to walls or pillars, xl. 19. Ver. 18. Humbly beseecheth that which hath least means to help.) (Instead of ixereve, the language, I think, requires ixervev, sc. absi thus: Tlepi 88 Qaite x3 (not tor) vex por &t07, wepi a imixupiac, 7d ameporalor, ixelevew* wep S%, SC. amop- ard seems preferable to arapérafoy, in the sense of our version, most helpless. 1n the 19th verse, instead of 4 tpyaciag % xerpar ériluxiac, T would read, ¥ tpyacias year, Xéailuxiac.] Tor craporeloy, 1. e. that which hath no experience at all, as our margin has it. Nannius reads, azoparaov. egentissinum ; Our version seems to follow a co- py which read either aypeclalor, or avasrnpérafor, any of which are more properly opposed to tmixuplag than aresporalor. Ver. 19. Asketh ability to do of him that ts most unable to do any thing. | Our version here manifestly follows the Vulgate, which reads, ‘* et de omnium rerum eventu petit ab eo qui in omnibus est inutilis ;?? which Calmet thinks has been corrupted, and that the ancient read- ing there was, ‘‘ de manuum eventu petit ab eo qui manibus est inutilis.” And indeed the Greek, To adpavisaley rats xepciv, favours this conjecture. I should not do justice to this writer, if 1 passed by the beautiful turns unobserved, which close this chapter, and cannot but strike every judi- cious reader. I am sensible that Arnobius, Lactantius, Minucius Felix, and many of the primitive writers, have -been very large in ex- posing the folly of idol-worship ; yet I know no occasional remarks, nor even any whole trea- tise purposely wrote on the subject, where this is more happily executed than in the compass of these two last verses, which alone may serve asa specimen of this writer’s skill and judg- ment, where the contrast is so beautiful, and the contraries so happily and justly placed to illustrate each other, that a person of taste can- not but immediately discern and admire the justness and elegance of the piece. I[t is infe- rior only to some instances of the same kind in” the inspired writings, particularly that well- judged opposition which we meet with in the tollowing words of St Paul, ‘* As deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well-known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed ;-as sorrowful, yet always re- joicing ; 4s poor, yet making many rich ; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things,” 2 156 2 Cor. vi. 8, 9, 10. see also ch. iv. 8,-9..I shall conclude this chapter with a just reflection, of St Austin upon another species of idolatry, which, though less perceived, is no less fatal : ‘+ Besides the senseless sort of idolatry, which consists in worshipping brutes and images, which may easily be avoided, there ts a more common and dangerous way of worshipping the work of a man’s own hands, continues he, by a secret and subtile idolatry, which. conse- crates our own favourite wills and passions, deifying the desires of our own hearts, and giv- ing thein the preference before the will of God, and is, in other words, the adoration of our own selves; an idolatry, which is so much the more dangerous, as it is within our own breasts, and we constantly carry the favourite image about with us.” | € HAP. ZAIN, Tue Arcument.—The insufficiency of idols Surther shewn from their inubility to preserve their worshippers in a voyage at sea; from hence the author takes occasion to mention the first invention of a ship, the form of which pro- bably was taken from the model of the ark ; that God rules the bvisterous element, and his providence steers men’s course, which can save them from accidents without the use of artificial means. The original of idolatry is enquired in- to, ver. 14. and some conjectures in the verses Sollowing, from whence probably it might take its rise. The chapter concludes with the abo- minable rites attending upun it, and the scanda- lous vices introduced by it. [Ver. 2. AN D the workman built it by his shill. Teywiane 8 copia naleoxevacer. In the Alexandrian Mo, regiizi 8 copia xaleoxev- «cw. Which reading is much more agreeable to the style of this author.] Ver. 3. But thy providence, O Father, govern- eth it.) As men had likewise their tutelar dei- ties and favourite idols, which were thought to preside over the sea, and able to assist them in their voyages, the author shews the absurdity of idol-worship in this particular also, that neither the strongest ship, built by the most skilful workman, nor the rotten images that are some- times in it, or carved upon it, probably of Nep- tune, Castor and Pollux, &c. are sufficient to procure a man a safe voyage, but the over- ruling providence of the true God only » 8 i, warp, Yanvbepra @poraa, Which is a proper tech- nical sea term, and means, that God’s providence steers and guides the ship. That particular dei- THE BOOK OF WisDOM. Chat. May fies:,were. supposed ta-superintend sea .wffaing appears.from an old inscription upon the:Phgt ros .built by Sostratus, mentioned ‘by Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 12. and Strabo,: hb, «x9 which is quoted by Dr Hody, De Bibh Peat; Orig. p. 87. and is as follows : v @EOIc cATHPCc!I YNEP TQN MAQIZOMENON. DIIS SERVATORIBVS PRO NAVIGANTIBVS. Gruter has an inscription upon the same odcg. sion to Castor and Pollux, - iui @EOI MEFAAOI AIOZKOPO! KABEIPOL, CASTORI ET POLLVCI DIS MAGNIS. Grut Juscript. xcviii. p. 13, But the most remarkable 1s that of Jupiter, Urius Bosporanus, published at first by Wheler. and Spon, and afterwards more correctly. :by: Chishul,, who engraved.a copy of the stone, which..was brought from the Bosphorus intg, England in 1731, and was afterwards among the; curiosities of Dr Mead’s library. The age.of.it. - appears from the name of the statuary, Philp): - son of Antipater, being mentioned in it, whe lived under Alexander the Great, see Plin. Nagi Hist. xxxiv. 8. And the statue likewise.is.takep; notice of in succeeding ages by. Cic. in L. Pigoe: nem, in Verrem, and by Dionysius Byzantinus, and other ancient geographers. The inscrips:- tion, in the common way of writing, is as fol» lows : — Ovgier ix meizerns tis sdmyilnge xarerro Lave, xale weotoray isioy ixmileoas. Eis’ tx} Kuavias dives Jeon, tvée Tocedan Kapmvroy criose xima mage Papebossy Elvs xax’ Abyainy wivle wAdne vase igturae, NeoIu, 158: Baran Paise wage Loctrw. "23s voy eveivTiloy ees Qedv, "Avlimdres Weis, Lerner Dirwy, ceyabig cvuCerov sumarcing. - Thus rendered by Dr Ashton: Urion inclamato Jovem comitemque ducemque Navita, cum ventis pandere vela parat. Sive ad Cyaneas immani in vortice petras Lendat, ubi horrificis estibus unda fremit ; Sive iter Aigai scopulosa per equora tentet, Tutus, ubi huic statue liba sacrarit, eat. Huncce Deum hic posuit nautis letabile signum, Prasidiumgue Philo, filius Antipatri. That the sailors, in their distress in a tempest)’ used to cry for help to their false gods, and-event’ implore the mercy of the sea itself, appears from Erasmus’s Naufragium, where they cry out i@® their fright, “ O clementissimum mare, O“geé nerosissimum mare, O formosissimum mare;* mitesce serya ;” where the epithets made use 0 Chine. XIV: are too sokt for that. boisterous element, “but ‘ate intended as compliments to bespeak its favour. But.a.more remarkable instance, and which I shall, for its greater authority, chuse more par- ticularly to mention, is what occurs in the pro- phet Jonah, ch. i. where we. read that the *« Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a’ mighty tempest in it, so that the ship was like to be broken ; then the mariners were afraid, and cried every one unto his (false) god,” ver. 5. But notwithstanding their prayer to.these pretended deities, and their rowing hard to bring the ship to land, the text acquaints us that they found no help, the sea continuing tempestuous against them, till they cried out unto the Lord Jehovah, the God of heaven, the only true God ; and then the sea, at his com- mand, ceased from her raging. This unexpected escape so affected the mariners, that from thenceforth “ they feared the Lord exceeding- ly,” ver. 16.; being convinced of his power and greatness, which appeared both in raising the storm, and so suddenly laying it. But the di- vine power over that unruly element never ap- peared more signally, than when our Saviour said to it, “ Peace, be still; and immediately there was a great calm,” Mark iv. 39. Ibid. For thou hast made a way even in the sea, anda safe path in the waves.) This may either mean in general, that God giveth a safe and secure passage over the sea to the faithful that depend upon, and cry unto him; or it may _mean, that God made a safe way for his favour- ite people the Israelites to go through the Red Sea on foot, which seems the most probable in- terpretation, because this sentence seems bor- rowed from Psal. Ixxvii. 19. where the words are almost the same, ‘ Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters ;” which the best interpreters refer to the same occasion. . Ver. 4. Shewing that thou canst save from all danger ; yea, though a man went to seu without art.) Greek ix wwlic, by any means, the word 7 pom being understood. cv Séacrtec Kay tml fimro¢ oniois. | “Iva nay ayev TEXING THK tmp. "Emby seems to require something after it; and aac, ver. I. is too far off: I think the true reading of the Greek is either ria xay arev réxme rig tmbs, and. thus the Arabic interpreters translate, “ ut quis- piam sine ulla arte lignumabjectum conscendat,” Ot aaa Kay corey TEXING TIE émiGiy ; and thus Calmet takes it, “ vous pouvez sauver de tout peril quand, on s’engageroit méme.sur mer; sans le secours d’aucun art.” Comm.. in loc. and the Vulgate itself’ so. understands. it, “-etiamsi. sine THE BOOK OF ‘WISDOM. 157 atte aliquis adéat mate;” [The fault of this passage is inthe word iz, which makes no sense. The Alexandrian has tre xay avev. It should be niko RLY rey réxmc, &c. of which the Vulgate is the verbal translation, “ etiamsi sine arte,” &c. “ ‘Yea, though a man should go on ship-board even without skill.”] Art or skill is not always successful, nor indeed always necessary on ship- board, or at sea; not always successful, as ap- pears from the instance of the mariners in Jo- nah, and because there are many shipwrecks, notwithstanding the skill of the best pilots ; nor always’ necessary, because God can save without the use and assistance of secondary means; as in the Israelites safe passage through the sea; or contrary to the known laws of nature, as when St Peter, at Christ’s command, walked upon the sea. And though the pilot should. have little or no skill, or, like Palinurus, should, by some accident, fall overboard, yet God’s power can preserve from danger, when the or- dinary and usual means fail. Or, should: the- violence of a tempest render all art and manage- ment ineffectual, and at length force the ship» upon rocks, so that nothing but instant death is. apprehended, God can, even in this extremity, unexpectedly succour the miserable, by an un- foreseen interposition of his providence ;. as he: has done upon many occasions, well attested in, history. One cannot read the description.of St Paul’s voyage, and of that sad tempest, Acts. XxXvil. when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, when they were forced “ with their: own hands to cast out the tackling of the ship, so that all hope of safety was then taken away ;” nor reflect upon the ensuing shipwreck.of him and his companions, and their very surprising and happy escape to land, some on boards, und' some on pieces of the ship, without discerning the hand of God in their wonderful preservation, which then is most visible and distinguished, when. hope is desperate, and art ceases. [The- passage in the Acts is not a right translation in our version, because boards (caries) are pieces. of the ship. You will observe that in the Greek. it is not, éa/ rwav re wacis, but tz/ rer tov ani ze. waorw. a9 Ver. 5. Nevertheless thou wouldest not that the works of thy wisdom should be id’e:| These words may either mean, that God not only displays his power, at sea; but-also his wisdomi is visible there, particularly in the make of. a. ship, and in the art of navigation ; for God. may very properly. be said to have taught men these, as he first gave the model of.a ship when he instructed Noah to. 158 build the ark after such a particular form ; and from thence, or by that pattern, men first ate tempted to build ships, and to sail in them’on the surface of the waters. The heathens indeed have given the honour of this invention to dif- ferent persons, some to Jason and the Argonauts that sailed to Colchis to fetch the golden fleece, some to Neptune, others to Atlas, or Minerva, some to the people of Crete, and others to the Pheenicians. But hence, or from the plan com- municated to Noah, we may, with more cer- tainty, derive it; and here we should fix the epoch, or first original of navigation, Or the meaning may be, that God would have a com- merce and correspondence carried on even a- mongst the most distant nations, by a traffic and exchange of their several products and commo- dities ; that the abundance of some might be a . supply for the others want, that so none of the good things which God has so liberally provided for the comfort and conveniency of life, might be idle, i. e. useless and superfluous, and there- fore, or for this purpose of a mutual intercourse, men undertook long and dangerous voyages, encompassing both sea and land to establish commerce, and to circulate what might be ne- cessary or wanting. We meet with the like observation among the fragments of Philo, ago Savuara: Saaasoar, Sf ac, x. 7a. “ Beneficio ma- ris terre regiones sibi invicem commutationes bonorum pendunt; atque tum ea, quibus car- ent, accipiunt ; tum ea, quibus abundant, re- mittunt.” Ibid. And therefore men commit their lizes to a small piece of wood.} Seneca has the like ex- pression : ' Audax nimium, qui freta primus Rate tam fragili perfida rupit, Dubiogue secans equora curs Potuit tenui fidere ligno. And indeed the poets in general are full of beau- tiful sentiments on the occasion, but none so jo- cular as Juvenal : I nunc, &F wentis animam committe dolato Confisus ligno, digitis a morte remotus Quatuor at septem, si sit latissima teda. Sat. xiv. Which Ovid has as fully and more seriously de- scribed in the following short verse : Tam prope nam lethuin, cuam prope cernit aquam. De Ponto, lib. ii. No wonder, therefore, that persons of the great- est courage have trembled at the nearness of the danger; and that the great hero Aéneas himself was‘in such a panic, in the violent storm THE BOOK ‘OF -WISDOM.{ Crag. SE mentioned in the first A&neid,.especially #aithe heathens had a notion that the soul was fire, and’ might possibly be extinguished by the wat But the description of the inspired poet exgegds all others in majesty and terror, * They.ay carried up to the heaven, and down again, tg the deep; their soul melteth away because of the trouble,” Psal. cvii. 26. This is exactly,iy the strain of Virgil: Lid visage Tollimur in calum curvato gurgite, &9 idem) 90th Subducta ad manes imos descendimus unda, i9sf Eneid. ibe iii; Ver. 6. For in the old time, when the’ proili giants perished.) Kai apxiig 3 amrennuuéray, x. ea [Perhaps an’ apxic, as ver. 13.] I think? this! which is the present reading of all the Greek copies, a mistake, probably xalapxae 8 amonauptich) xr. a, is the true reading. ‘ Ab initio ¢ut perirent superbi Gigantes,” &c. as the ‘Vulgate has it, i. e. when the old world, through ‘exces of wickedness, perished by water. But’ why are the giants particularly mentioned, when the text in Gen. vi. 12. says, “* that all flesh’ tad corrupted his way upon the earth?” The ansiet is, that by a known figure of speech, a patt het is put for the whole ; and those giants aré ptin- cipally mentioned, as being the ring-leaders, and the most flagrant examples of wickedness. “For by the word giants, we are to understand, hot only men of uncommon stature, but violent and bloody men, who filled the world with rapid and murders. Hence some of the ancients tx. plain the word yifuke by Bia, violent men; and some by acc, wicked men. They ate here called vztsiparo, which may mean not only ° their being proud upon account of theit size, but, which is a general consequence, their , being overbearing by reason of their great. strength. We may likewise understand by. perished, their perishing by an everlasting de- struction : for the ancient name for /ed/, among the Jews, was, catus gigantum, and there are many texts of Scripture that seem to lead to this sense. Job xxvi. 5,6. in the Hebrew and Vulgate. Prov, xxi. 16. See also Mr Mede’s, yth Dise. hs ik ee {bid. The hope of the world governed by fy hand escuped in a weak vessel.| Coverdale’s, ang the other ancient English versions apply these words to the ship, and not to the persons in, it rendering, “ He, in whom the hope was left to increase the world, wente_ into the “shy pps, whyche was governed thorow thy hande 2” an so the Vulgate understands it, and the Arabigy : 5) : Ral Our version follows the Greek. yn vi Ibid. (And laft to-all ages a seed of generation.’ je wri; fo the world.) When the earth was purged loses a deluge of: sin by a deluge of water,: that there might be some living witnesses of the world’s being thus destroyed ; and that the me- mory of such an instance of God’s justice, power, and hatred of’ sin might be preserved to suc- ceeding ages, Noah and his family, upon whose safety likewise the future encrease and people- ing of the world again depended, and therefore here properly called the hope of it, were pre- served in the Ark from perishing by the water, and by God’s command he preserved some few individuals. of every species, to repair the almost universal loss, and by a new progeny renew the face of the earth, which is the seed of genera- tion here meant. According to the ancients, only Deucalion and Pyrrha survived the flood, and in these they placed the growing hopes of the world: thus Ovid, '~« Nune genus in nobis rostat mortale ducbus. Plato and Lucian call those few persons who re- mained alive Zérupa, i. ¢. live coals, who were _ to rekindle, the vital flame, and continue the human race. When Noah went out of the Ark, God blessed him, and his sons, 7. e. he renewed the blessings bestowed before upon Adam, saying, as after a new creation, encrease and multiply ; nay, it is very observable, that God repeats this blessing twice, Gen. ix. 1], 7. to denote as well its greater certainty, as universality. -‘ Noah, says Theodoret, was now the seed of mankind, the new root of human nature, and, as it were, a second Adam; accordingly God confers upon him the same benediction, as upon the father of the former world.” Quest. in Gen. 53. As Noah stood thus as it were in the place of Adam, so.St Chrysostom observes of Noah, that he re- paired the loss of dignity sustained by Adam’s fall, and obtained, from the divine goodness, some external privileges Adam had lost ;.and, as an instance of this, he alledges the return of the savage world in the ark, to that submission, which, according to the divine appointment, they paid to the first man before the fall. Homil. 25. in Gen. : Ver. 7. (For blessed is the wood whereby righ- feousness cometh. )| i. e. Blessed is the wood which serveth for good and righteous purposes, and blessed is the Ark in particular which pre- serveth so good a man as Noah was (for blessed- Mess in-scripture is applied to things as well as persons that contribute, to any good work), for he was a great instance of the righteousness which is by faith, and as such is numbered THE’ BOOK! OFUOWASDOM. 159 - among: the heroes in the xith to the Hebrews ; he wasialso a remarkable preacher of righteous- ness.to the old world, warning them, for an hun- dred and twenty years, to escape the general danger and destruction that threatened them ; and, in his family, the true religion was preserv- ed, particularly in Shem, who was the root of the divine peculium, in the postdiluvian, as Seth was in the anitediluvian world. . But 1 cannot think that these words are spoken prophetically of the cross, or that they any ways allude to it ; that they may be applied to it by way of accom. modation, and have actually been so applied by several of the fathers, particularly St Cyprian; Justin Martyr, Ambrose, Austin, Chrysostom; Clemens Alexandrinus, &c. I readily grant, and indeed such a comparison seems easy and natural ; for, referring this passage to the ark spoken of in the foregoing verse, to which un- doubtedly it originally and primarily relates, this Ark of wood may, in a secondary sense, be considered as a type of the church, and of that’ salvation, which true believers shall in all ages obtain by faith in a crucified Saviour, who in. the Old Testament is called the Lord our righ- teousness, Jer. xxiii. 6. Some have understood this passage of our author of the punishment of notorious offenders, that the wood upon which. such sinners suffer, and which is the adjudged’ instrument of justice and vengeance, is blessed, as doing service to the public, by the exemplary dispatch of such as are not fit to live. But this. interpretation seems forced. : Ver. 8. But that which is made with hands is cursed.] Something is here omitted or must ne- cessarily be understood ; for it is not true that every thing that is made with hands is. cursed, for then the ark itself would be cursed ; I con- ceive, therefore, that graven images should be supplied, Cursed is the graven image which is made with hands. But this likewise must be understood with some limitation, for the bare making of an image is not in all cases to be con. demned: for, besides that Moses cails tunis arz one of the gifts of God, that act of God in giving orders for the brazen serpent to be made-and set up,’ and the cherubim to be placed over the mercy seat, shews,. that the bare making of images is not unlawful. Accordingly the writers of the decalogue do not understand the second commandment, as if it forbad the making of images in general, but the making them witha design to represent the Divine Miajesiy, or to worship and kneel before them. The sense, therefore of this passage seems to be, that the- image, which is made with an intent to be wor. 160 shipped, and by which cometh unrighteousness, is accursed. And the reason of its beingeac- cursed, is, from the great, I should say infinite, disproportion that there is between an image and the Divine nature ; and that being corruptible it should be accounted God. If the insensible wood, or image, then is cursed, no wonder that the maker of it should be so in an equal, or greater degree, as it follows in the next words. [But upon examination, nothing appears to have been omitted. This verse answers to verse 2. "Exeivo wer > epekiep—ro xaporroi nor 8, &c. Read the eight first verses without stopping (the seventh being put in a parenthesis) and the connection will clearly appear. At the same time observe, that 73 xeporoinrey here signifies an idol, without any regard to the etymology of the word, which, in strictness and propriety of speech, may sig- nify a ship as well as an idol, they both being made with hands: So yavz‘ir signifies any thing ‘that is carved or engraven ; but the LX X apply it to a graven image, made with a design: of being an object of religious worship. Levit. XXVi. L. Ou wood Univ auroig Xespomroinra, we yavafa.} Ibid. As well it, as he that made it.| This is agreeable to Scripture, which says, “ Cursed is the man that maketh any graven or molten image, and putteth it in a secret place, 7. e. pri- vately worships it; for it is upon account of its being worshipped, that it is there called an abo- mination unto the Lord, Deut. xxvii. 15. Nor is it particular to the Scripture only, to denounce and execute vengeance upon the idol-maker, even the poets, when they give us an account of Prometheus’s vanity, tell us, at the same time, how their Jupiter vindicated his honour, by the severe punishment inflicted upon the insolent offender. Ithink this verse and the context would be more perfect, if the worshipper, who is the principal, if not the only offender, had been inserted. For the idol itself is senseless and inanimate, or, as St Paul, in one word, well expresses it, is nothing, and therefore, as such, cannot be the object of punishment, but the person who sins by it; which is'Capellus’s ob- jection-against this place ; and as to the sfatu- ary that makes the idols, ‘how far he is faulty, the following lines of Martial will inform us: ~ ui fingit sacros auro vel marmore vultus, Non facit ille Deos ; qui colit, ille facit. © a So that as he alone turns images or , victures into idols or false gods, who worst thin, he should have been chiefly taken notice of as (Os obnoxious to the divine dispjeasure. ” Ag it is the worship therefore that makes properly the THE ‘BOOK GF WISDOM. Chrkp. Ray. idol;.possibly the idolater may be include in the-maket, and is'the 4 aaCor in the Next'verte; and thos Calmet says it-may be understood, “ Le faux Diet, avec celui qui lui réndanetttg sacrilege.” Comm. in loc. Tb ag, Ver. 11. Therefore even upon the idol¥ of ths Gentiles shall there be a visitation. This m#y te taken in two senses, according -as'We Under stand the term zdo/, which may either ‘mein the material image, or the false god ‘represettt- ed by it. Butit may be asked how a visitation or punishment can properly come: upor'the. idol which is inanimate? Tlie Chaldee:patg. phrase upon Exod. xii. 12. will explait thts, where the judgments threatened ‘upon'the pods of the Egyptians are expressed in the ‘four ®t. lowing instances, “ Idola fusilia liquefien tj [doth lapidea resecabuntur, [dola testacea fient miruta frustra, Idola lignea fient cinis.™ And that te images of their god Apis, and their other deftieg, were thrown down by an earthquake whether first-born wereslain,; St Jerom asserts,'4d Faia}, from Jewish tradition, and Artapanus itt £tiseb. lib. ix. de Praespar. The like examiple was tiadé of Dagon by the virtue of thedivine fe oat pt pearing on the ark, for he felt before it;4n tad on the ground, a headless-idol; ‘and ‘a Sen Sel ide trunk. Or it may mean, that the demonsunderil spirits, which inhabited these ‘idolsy and from thence gave their delusive oracles; shalt be del tected and dispersed. St Cypriatr’ ‘speaks oF them in after times as thus visited; “Hi'ad jurati per Deum verum a nobis, statifii éedunte, & de obsessis corporibus exire cogumtafiiy} deas illos nostra voce & operatione majestatts occulta, flagris czedi, igne torreri; increments penie propagantis extendi, ejulare, ‘gemere, deprecari.” De Idol. vanit. The ‘prophets, in many parts of their writings,’ foretel’ that there shall bea final period put to idolatty, Isaiah ii. 18. Zech. xiii. 2. Jerems'x. 157 ‘Whete the prophet, speaking of idols, says, actotding to the LXX. & xoupo éminxomii¢ aver ciorenvrl ai; ‘alt expression which has a near resemblan¢é wi that of this writer ; and in ver. 11. he hag 'hé same threatening, but in the Chaldee Jangruiagl as the learned observe, see Witsii Pxéter dt Symb. Apostol.p: 125. Polit Synopsi ime that the Jews being thus prepared ‘agaitist'th attempts of the idolatrous Babylonian¥, tight be ‘better able to answer theni in their oda lant guage: a aie Set B bam “EBid."Becduse in the breatire of God cRiiflare becomé an dhomination.} The sense séems: ) be tht fd8ls are an abomination’ by the ‘abuse oF uar. XIV. some of God’s creatures; for whatever be the matterof their idols, whether gold, silver, stone, ar wood, things otherwise harmless and useful are-perverted by this misapplication of them to idolatrous purposes; and, on this account, God will shew his displeasure and resentment even. against such insensible things. [xv ulieuurs Os, sc. orra, “ being of God’s creation, or, God’s creatures, the same as, ix )isparor Oct which would have been clearer.] Ver. 12. For the devising of idols was the be- ginning of: (spiritual ) Sornication.] In the lan- guage of Scripture, idolatry is represented as a sort-of fornication or adultery ; and the wor- ‘ship of false gods is called the going a whoring after them, Levit. xvii. 7. Ezek. xxiii. 30. Hos. iv. 12. ix. 1. Hence the idolatry of the Jews is expressly called uncleunness, because it was an alienation of the hearts and bodies of thein from the God of Israel, who had chosen that church as his spouse. And when the Jews were at length brought off from this sin they represented the idolatry of others under the name of fornication, John viii. 41. Our version, it is plain, takes it in this sense, by calling it here spiritual fornication, though none of the other versions so confine the sense, or take any notice of the word spiritual, .And indeed the observation is equally true of fornication strict- Iv-so called; for the heathen idolaters were likewise the most infamous fornicators, ‘and their hidden mysteries were little else than acts of uncleanness, a melancholy detail of which follows in the conclusion of this chapter. Ter- tullian’s words are very observable, who joins these vices as if they were inseparable. ‘ Quis immundisspiritibus operatus, non conspurcatus, & constupratus incedit?”” De Idol.c. 1. AndSt Peter, describing the vicious custoinsof theGen- tiles, says “ that they walked in lasciviousness and lusts, and abominable idolatries, t Pet. iv. 3. To these impurities they were led by the tra- ditional accounts of the lewd amours of their false gods; and when once men began, as it were, to consecrate crimes by the authority of their gods, there was nothing which they did not commit without scruple and withoutshame, under the shelter of their example. ‘“ Ego Homuncio non facerem >?’ Eunuch. Act. tii. Se. v. was therefore but a natural conclusicn, when the great thunderer was known to have com- mitted a rape, and authorise the same villany. Ibid. And the invention of them the corruption of life.) As the practice of idolatry was at- tended with impurities of all sorts, and parti- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Ot cularly: with unnataral and shameiess unclean- ness, itis very properly here called cpa Cui, the corruption of life. That géopz signifies cor- ruption throngh lust, is evident from many places of Scripture where it is so used, parti- cularly in the epistles of St Paul and St Peter; ‘itis sotaken by lenatius, and otherancienteccle- siastical writers, and Philo, who ranks it with fornication and adultery: and asa branch of great uncleanness, ranks it among other in- stances of transgression, which‘are a breach ot the seventh commandment. Phil. de Spec. Leg. Ver. 13. For neither were they from the be- ginning, neither shall they be for ever.| The most ancient idolatry was, undoubtedly, the worship of the heavenly budies; but as ancient as this was, we read nothing of it certain, and whict may be absolutely depended on, before the de- luge ; nor are learned men, in general, agreed, that it was one of those pollutions which defiled the old world. And indeed ‘there were many causes which might prevent the sin of idolatry so éarly ; as, the infancy of the world, from the creation, the memory of which must be sti!l fresh; the longevity of the Antediluvians, of Adam, Seth, and the rest of the holy line, who could, and did most probably inculcate and de- liver to their families, what themselves were so abundantly assured of with respect to Almighty God’s being and oneness. Add to this likewise the appearance of the Aéye, or Sun of God, to Adam and others. See Tenison on Idol. p. 39. The worship of images came in much later 5 the earliest account we have of them is, probably that of Laban’s teraphim, Gen. xxxi. or his penates, as they are thought ; see Selden De cult. extran. primord. cap. iii. It appears from Varro, that the Romans had subsisted above an hundred and seventy years before they had any images, but they were idolaters long before that time. Tarquinius Priscus is first thought to have introduced them from the Greeks; see August. De Civ. Dei, lib. iv. 31. Thorndike of the Laws of the Church, p. 289. Our au- thor intimates, that the custom of worshipping dead men for gods contributed to it, ver. 15, the date of which may be fetched from history. And as to polytheism in general, one knows from thence the epoch and original of all the false gods, when Jupiter, Hercules, Neptune, &c. first commenced deities, and on what ac- count ; so that idolatry may be looked upon as of late date, compared to the most ancient and true religion, which has always subsisted, and x 262 will always continue inthe world. And as God hath already ‘Dlotted out the very names of many of the heathen idols, it may be looked up- on as an earnest of the utter destruction of the rest. ; “Ver. 14. For by the vain glory of men they en- tered into the world, and therefore shall they come shortly, £o an end.| Vain and proud men, not content with common honours, aspired after di- vine, and aflected to be called gods ; and, from a principal of vanity and self love, would have their images erected and adored, proposing im- mortality to themselves from hence ; but their expectations have been frustrated, and their imagés of no long continuance. Our translators render it’in the future tense, as prophetical of what should happen hereafter; but the original expresses it by the time past, dia ero avyrouor av- sav zines txeorbs. The Arabic assigns here the game reasons ‘for ‘such ambitious attempts, Cumque propterea finisillorum sit brevis, hinc idola excogitarunt ;” “ That idols were invent- ed’as-a sort of artifice to prolong the shortness of their Jives. | The Vulgate takes xeroSoia in the nominative, case, and renders “ superva- cuitas hominum advenit in orbem terrarum, & ideo brevis illoruni, finis est inventus,” under- standing it probably’ of ‘the sin of our first pa- rents: Kut Dr Grabe, who has Sara} in a pa- renthesis, is niore explicit, viz. that death enter- éd at first into the world through man’s ambi- tion, and, on that account, they lost their in- tended ‘immortality, and a period was fixed to human Jife.- This indeed appears to be the sen- timent of our author in several places, chap. i. 16. chap. iil. 23. but that sense does not seem so agreeable to the context. (Ver. 15. Fur @ father afflicted with untimely mourning, when he had made an image of his child soox, taken away, now honoured him as a god, which was then a dead man. In this verse the words rv aparreBévlcs réxys are capable of three dif- ferent constructions: either, 1. with exéve, as in the edition and our versions: or, 2. with ofa: THE BOOK OF -WISDOM. Caar. S155 der respect which parents bear to, their, chi}dr, encreasing after their death, anda certqin An; potent desire joined thereto of still caijoying their companies whom they so dearly loy Be de gether with a fond persuasion that the dega were in a capacity of knowing and accepting such ceremonious instances of love and respecty pu them upon procuring sacrifices, and other ae knowledgments of divine honour to be; py) het assigned them after death ; and at length a civil respect terminated in superstition and idolatry, Thus St Cyprian, * Inde illis instituta temple inde ad defunctorum vultus per imaginem de tinendos expressa simulachra, quibus & immo a bant hostias, & dies festos dando honores cele, brabant. Inde posteris facta sunt sacra, ‘ave primis fuerant assumpta solatia.” De idol: vant, Cicero is a celebrated instance of the very fon affection of a parent for a deceased child, ~ ip had a mind to perpetuate the memory, and ‘on. secrate the virtue of his favourite daughter bit, lia by a temple, the most ancient way of In honour to the dead that had deserved well We have her Apotheosis in the following. oFds; “ Te omnium optimam, doctissimamque, appro. bantibus Diis immortalibus ipsis, in eorum, cart locatam, ad opinionem.omnium mortalium C6, y secrabo.”——De Consol. see also Lactantiss,. ¢ falsa Rel. lib. i. 15. and the writer, of “his ite vol. ii. p. 378. Not unlike our author's accou ¥ ¥ . coieeh GO CSS _is what Diophantus the Lacedzemonian hat) tions of Syrophanes the Egyptian, whose gne was so excessive for the death of his only. " the designed heir of his immense fortune th he ordered an image to be made of himiasa sort of relief and comfort to him under his 2 tori,” after the commission of any ageat fe t oy. nu éc tran. primor. cap. iii, So that oui-dathp Wesdee ttNe a, tov. nor the Stigipal a ‘did not _meap try? doe Woes lye erty babaid io much ‘care was taken ‘to make the idol-tedyple:|; beautiful - for the nore supérb:and: magnifitentic! this was, the greater and ‘better did ‘the gots seem’ to the multitude, - mate. easily allarediis through tlie beauty of! the work!*'Fhas Aledos) ander, to” solace the excess ot! grief for-his/Hexim phaestion not only decreed: hi ina temple/buw promised uncommon rewards-to Cleomenes, ‘the overseer of his works, to‘finislt: it) with the’titsi - most nicety and exactness. Arran: De ekped,! ‘ Alex. lib. ‘vil. : ie PBT Ver. 20. Tok hin now for a god, which wits; tle before was but honoured as a man} ECaope’! tnoyicarfo, SiCasua is more generally taken for’) worship ; but sometimes it signifies the thing,' or being, that is worshipped. Thus we find eo used, Acts xviii. 23. arabewpar rat ocGaapiolba Uiler lI which our translators renders, ‘+ beholding your?! devotions ;” but the reading would be*tmiche) better, ‘* beholding your idols 2? opt as? thes! margin has it, ** beholding the gods you weft. ship.’ Theophylact accordingly expounds it! by Aaizoee, which Athens was notorigas “for worshipping. — wea re Ver, 21. For men serving either’ chlamity'6's tyranny, did ascribe unto stones anil stocks, * ay" This is a short, but somewhat obscure reheat "! sal.of the causes of idolatry, mentioned at fatged'. in the seven foregoing verses ; that, concirrent “ ly with other reasons, it arose either from ‘grief’ for the loss of some favourite person, whose memory, by an instance of mistaken tenders! ness, was endeavoured to be preserved ; of ftom -' the uncontroulable will and authority of tyrants appointing worship and adoration to be “patdto% insensible statues; which was complied winlt? generally out of a servile fear; but to gow princes they voluntarily erected them,» mutgs° _mere'compliments to their vanity, ‘but agstenoe timonies of their love and respect. ° St“Chryc® sostom’s observation on the beginning of ide! latry is very just, ¥7o edwnaralpeid rar diOpaisr''4 aonabey, ump wérpor Timoputrar Tor Carlors “& ror anil? vivlor ero Feats apostxuOn, wrw wopretd ixparnge.” ; ; Ixxxvii. 1 Matth2 “where’ wopitx’ seems! tobe” used in the sense of our author, ver!-12.? 7"? at Ibid. Did ascribe unto stocks end: stones? He? excommunicable name. |i. ‘es Of God) as the!” margin rightly supplies ; which title'emintnt! th belonged:to. the 'God*of Israel; the: bre absotthtle andvonty true ‘Béing:’ The Hebrews, néebid" CHAB] KITV. inglyicall God. Hashem, ‘i. e. the names:and frony kenee, \o.doubt, Askima, an appellation of God is'derived. ‘The critics likewise observe, thatiwherever: che name, or -the holy. name, is found by. itself, or put absolutely, in the Mo- saical. writings, or elsewhere, it means God himself, or the tzcommunicable name. And jn- deed the name of God cannot properly be com- municated, or be common to him and some.o- ther being. For though names proper:are giv- en, we know, to the individuals of the same species, to distinguish them from each other ; yet,God being singular in his kind, his name is as incommunicable as his essence. And thus St Cyprian, ‘* Nec nomen Dei quzras, Deus nomen est ili. Hic vocabulis opus est, ubi.propriis appellationum insignibus multitu- do dirimenda est: Deo qui solus est, Deus vocabulum totum est, De Idol. Vanit.” And therefore when Moses earnestly enquired after his-‘name, he took the name of J am; implying that-he was the only one of his species, that there:is none but God that truly is, and that all others were false gods, pretending to what they were not, and assuming a name which did not belong to them.. Hence therefore we see the reason and peculiar sanctity of the Tefra- grammaton, for other names of God being ap- plicable to other things: or persons, as Elohim to prinees, &c. the naine Jehovah, or Jave, or Jat, was not communicated to, or participated by any. other thing or. being ; wherefore God chaHenges this as his own peculiar name, Exod, iit,-14. and thus the ancient English translations and: the Oriental versions seem so understand it., But there is another likewise sense of the in- communicable ‘name, viz. that great ineffable name:which must not be communicated or men- tioned. 1 Josephus calls it mpoonyopia? wei ng & foe Siu cimey, i.e. 6 aname which it is not lawful - to. speak, of.’ This: the Jews were so tender of, and paid such a religions regard to, that the name Jehovah was among them a&xparr(le, never to be uttered, unless once ina year by the high priest, on the great day of expiation ; and hence he was.said to be ‘‘ a God without a name :” And thus he.is described by: some-early writ- ers, ‘particularly by Justin. Martyr,’ who calls. him -©xs¢ 6 affrlos. Apol. seounda. -And in this sense we.may understand .afiile. gruel, 2 Cor. xii. 4 which are not so: properly wnspeakable words, ~as:.,our) translation -renders,. :as.-words: which oughtnot.to.be spoke.;'and soy appro is.. used, by Philo. De Somniis »,or. xather, to‘avoid the tautology in whtat follows, ‘* Words yhich THEBOOK OF WISDOM. ‘eliildren in sacrifice to Moloch. 165 “God alone can utter ;?’ and-thus @ learned: writ -er explains-them,)s* Verba tanta Majestatis, ut homine majora, Deum antorem &- prolocuto- rem arguerent.” Witsii Miscell. sac. p. 25: ° Ver. 22. Whereas they lived in the great war of ignorance, those so great plagues called they peace. | :Meyaaw Carlee ayriag monéus. "Ayre here (3 plainly refers to the words before, caarzzSa wep? tiv Te Ost yoo, ** Ignorance of the true God °: and his worship ;”’ which being attended: with slaughter of children, obscene rites, adultery, - murder, and other great evils: and mischiets, - of which there is along and black catalogue in the following verses, may, in some. sense,: [TMporayopéuwow, they cull peace ; and so in the fol- lowing verses, the verbs: run: in the -present ° tense. By which change the author possibly may mean,. that as the case of idolatry was. such at the beginning, so it still continues the © same in his own time. ] Ver..23. Fur whilst they-stew their children in : sacrifices.] Some of the vices mentioned in this ~ and the following verses, were the very ‘sacred -: rites of the heathen worship itself, as thattine human and impious custom of: offering their Grotius says, that it-was a-custem among the Phoenicians for , their kings, tn times of great calamity, to:sacri- : fice one of their sons, him especially. whom: they 4 Joved’best. Annot. in Deut. xviii. Siliusilta-" licus confirms the. same.. Mos fuit in populis quos convenit advena Dido’ *’ Poscere cade Deos veniam, aciflagrantibus aris. _ (Infandum dicty) parvos imponere natose;., 11. rua} ‘Philo .mentions:ithe same. custom,’ %0¢! yo ran} canals. «i. te nyarnuiies tov tixnori te opayin' trae | Scvany UT RN Tos iiepelt Aaiuen | See-Laotant/ bb! 7 166 i, c. 31! Plitdrch. de superstit. Minut. in Oc- tiv.: Nor was this unnatural rite of sacrificing their own children peculiar to barbarous na- tions; we likewise meet with instances of this ‘cruelty among the Greeks and Romans, and even, by the Psalmist’s account, among God’s ‘ own ptople, Psal. cvi. 39. See note on ch. xii. 5, 6: where this subject is handled more at large. ; ‘ Ibid. Or used secret ceremonies.] Kpvgia push- giz. They were also called avépsnta cupCona, depot apirla, rercla? pusxal, and opertanea sacra, which the of ueuunuérs were acquainted with only, and were concealed from all others: Hence in such writers as make mention of these rites, as He- rodotus, Diodorus, Apuleius, all is mystery and darkness ; such were the sacrifices of Ceres, Isis, Cybele, Proserpina, Venus, Priapus, Bacchus, and other impure deities, which were usually celebrated in the night, in groves, ca- verns, and secret places ; and to such myste- ries of iniquities practised among the heathen, St Paul may be thought to allude, when he says, ‘* That it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret,”’ Ephes. v. 12. It appears also, that they were ‘initiated into the service of their idols by lewd and indecent ceremonies ; the LXX therefore very properly, in Hosea iv. 14. where these rites are referred to, call these idolaters by the sacrifical term, -z¢Jtacouévs, which the Chaldee paraphrase upon the place thus renders, ** Ipsi cum meretricibus societate se jungunt, & cum scorto comessantur & potant.”” Nay, which is still more shocking, there are instances, both in profane and sacred writings, of prostitutions even in the very temples themselves: Thus Juvenal, _ Ad quas non Clodius aras ? Sat. vi. And in a following satire, there is the like charge, | + Quo non prostat feemina templo ? Sat. ix. The like may be‘inferred from the history of ‘Paulina, who was debauched by Decius in the temple of Isis, under the notion, and with the pleasing thought, of her lying with the god Anubis there ; see Joseph. Antig.4ib. xviii. c. 4. See also Amosii. 8. which is, by many, under- stood in the like sense. But the account in 2 Maccab. vi. 4. “* That the temple was filled with riot, and revelling: by -the Gentiles, who dallied: with harlots, and had to do with wo: men within the circuit of the holy places,” is so full; that'no further proof seems necessary; THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cake. Sy, “Ibid. Or made revellings of’ sthan bmi "Eupavat iEdrnws Stopor neue. The Gen Nes iz renders, “ or raging dissolutdness iby rik rites.”’ The passage seems to be wrong 'pifttte; in our version ; it should be, ‘* used sedrp#é'te remonies, or mad revellings of stranpe rtd i.e.’ Bacchanalian rites, such as Theodore} et Te rie arlene Opyia ; and Lactantius more! 1d g¢i , ly, works of madness, “ Quid de iis dicatny yi abominandam, non libidinem, sed insaniagieg! ercent.” Instit. lib. vi. c. 23. . Koyot heré'g used in an impure sense, and means ‘athototig revels, or unlawful gratifications ; by theatid> which, as it follows in the next-versé, he grieved others with adultery : And so, ‘wi mention is made, 2 Maccab. vi. 4. before 4 ot ed, that the temple was filled, ccolfac 5 pues, it is explained after, by dulljing with harlot.“ the same sense xauoc is used, Rom: xiii’ We Gal. v. 21. 1, Pet. iv. 3. and by Theocritasany the scholiasts on that poet, an impure person} styled xouasic ; whiclt is agreeable to the’chi: racter of the god Comus, -who,’ accorditg' the ancients, is described to be Deemon' aniitdy umpudicorum incentor ; see Philostrat: fib. i’ Dy 9, Imagin. Suidas in voce Kixoc. Spencer De‘ Hebr. tom. i. p. 618. Instead of eet Dr Mangey reads aanoxdréy Seruav here, whith scems indeed more expressive and’ proper.4 his notes on Philo, vol. ii. De Abraham...” Ver. 25. So that there reigned in all mén, tsifh- out exception, blood, manslaughter.}- Our't 1g lation manifestly follows a copy “which ve wares, probably the Vatican ; but od i sion must be confined, though a vety ‘ye é one, to the idolaters only ; for to fix such bla crimes upon all men, without exception, ist00 extensive and unjust a charge, and if it be cot: sidered thus universally, carries with it 3" and unwarrantable imputation ;’ it must t fore have the same limited sense as oie ta Acts xiv. 16. which should ‘not ‘be fende all nations, as our translation ‘ha$-it'?“ but meaning is, and the rendering should be, “h in times past God suffered all the heathen,’ ith tinguished from the Jews; ‘to“éalk th‘thelrglit ways: And so wave here peli ai heathen idolaters, who were the ‘persis Built of these ‘detestable vices. But the Alexandvt MS-has another, and better reading, otfiSiat wie tye, alu % pore, all things, ‘or ¢ thie oh 1 are confounded, i. e. alk sorts ‘of’ us a miscuously cominitted by these idolatérs, w it are the sad consequences of idol a Hip, is the sense'of Junius ahd Calmet, atid i ool Ghap. XLV. firmed bythe ¥ulgate and all the ancient ver- sions, and, is indeed to be preferred, as it stands clear of the former objection. saa Thid.. lood, anslau hter. | Alpa y pore. I think our tran ilies erontd rather have ren- dered aiza by manslaughter, than gic; which undoubtedly means. murder, and ought. so to have been, expressed. .Afua in the sense of man- slaughter is used Deut. xvii. 18. where mention is'made of a;matter in dispute between blood and blood,: aapéacr aiva aiyaloo* where one of them inust mean casual murder, and both to- gether answer to afue % gw here, and to 33 dam, and ‘S393 dumim in the Hebrew, i. e. blood and bloods, or bloodshed and murder ; that 7 inthe singular number, takes in all man- slaughter, in battle, tumults, casualties, $c. and oan freacherous, wilful, and insidious murders, an sp'imiplies the strongest expression of guilt; se¢, Pagninus’s Thesaurus, and Kircher’s Con- cordance, in. voce S71: And thus, in Gen. iv. 1D, ere ,Abel’s murder is mentioned, which was undgubtedly.a wilful murder, it is express- £4 Fp the plural, agcording to the Hebrew. We have in, Rcclus, iv..40. Sartor 3 alva, death and bloodshed ; where aiux cannot mean murder, be- Causes HL pdnishment inflicted by God, as by; the sword > So in Ezek. v. 17. xxviii. 23. XEXVUL 29, Soralec ¥ aiua is rendered pestilence and blood ;.' where, aixa signifies any unusual sert of death, rather than murder. Ibid. Disgimedation.}. Acroc. This, I think, utd ‘be better rendered deceit or cheating, which is.its more usual acceptation ; and so it i taken in the description of such idolaters, om, t. 29.. This sense likewise is more agree- ab e to the context. By the Syriac interpre- ters it s,rendered, fraude; and by Calmet, /a tromperien 3-55) 5 , = Abid. Corruption, unfuithfulness.| Boga, anisiz. We-are net. to vnderstand pla of ‘corruption of manners.in general, nor yet of corruption by Iust'in particular; but of such practices, pro- -kably bribery, in.some, as induced others to unfaithfulness,.or breach of trust, which is the arzia,thet follows, and is used for perfidia;. and inthis sense. the. Syriac. and Arabic versions, with Junins;..agree, rendering the, words .by chrruptela. and. perfidia ; which Jafter is certain- ly azmore proper.word than infdelitas, which the Vulgate uses; see Rom. i 31. ., “Net. 96. Disquicting of goad men,] @uber. dy- «fay, i. t.may,ag well signify, according to the present pointing of the..Greek,,. cozfounding of 808, Huhgs, honarurme rerum coxfusios and, 80 THE BOOK -OF, WISDOM. 167 same interpreters.do indeed expound it. Ac- cording to the sense of .our version, and of al- most all the commentators, these. idolaters were not only epazyabo, Despisers of those that were good, 2 Tim. iii. 3. but their opposers and per- secutors ; but I question the propriety of this rendering ; for I do not well.understand how Sopubec ayaloy can signify any thing, but a crowd or tumult of good people, as SépuCs¢ re. aav, Mark xiv. 2. means an uproar of people in general; or how it can be rendered with our translators, disquieting of good men. Would not the constraction be better, if these three words, eyabay xapiloe aurnsie, were taken together, as they stand by themselves in the same stiche in the Alex. MS, and ScpuCes be rendered. by itself? It will be sufficiently distinguished from rap2xoc,, which goes before, as it is of stronger significa: tion and greater force. Tepaxec properly megns disturbance, strife, stirs, razaxog sx ériyos, Acts xi. 18. no-small stix among. the. soldjers ; ,,but, Soguéee is properly -éumults, riot, insurrections, which are of a more public and dangerous na- ture, and it may be considered as the conclu-. sion of that climax. . And indeed the. Bible, commonly called St Jerom’s, actually so distin- guishes, and renders. Sogu6o¢ by itself, ameltus.-. Bonorum Dei immemoratio, i. e: forgetfulness. of Gods benefits, or of the good things receiyed from the grace and kindness of God ;. which, is likewise Tirinus’s interpretation of x2p/es. But, according to our version, it means no more.than ingratitude; which is scarce of .consequence.e- nough to be inserted in the midst of so black a. catalogue. Loe agen Hits Ibid. Defiling of souls.| Youxoyr Mizoues.,, AG- cording to the rendering of all the English yer-, sions no particular vice seems denoted herehy.s it may-be equally predicated of every crime here enumerated, that, as a sin, it is a ‘defilin of the soul. I would therefore ‘understitid Yvxéy in the complex sense, as taking ini the whole man, body as well- as soul; incavhich sense it often occurs in Scripture ;. and, as the expression is plural, it may, be supposed.to, ing clude the sin of. more.than ong person, .some; heinous offence, in, which persons, their. bodies. as well as. souls, were jointly, concerned : And). accordingly to the character of such idolaters, : and .as it stands connected with other-like shocking vices, sodomy .seems most probably: to he meant;, especially as yeristws sraarayi, ancl. agényergey both which. our,version seems. fo under-, of. stand.of.that particular. vice, are capable of anp, othex,.and.very. consistent sense... But.if this; 163 explanation of Yue is not satisfactory, may we not then suppose capxor puaspics to be, the true reading, and to denote that particular spe- cies of uncleanness ? St Jude has the same ex- pression, and, as it seems, upon the like occa- sion of filthiness. That capxov is often used plurally, see Job ii. 5. Wisdom xit. 5. Apoc. iv. 15, xix. 48, 21. Or, lastly, if I may be indulged one conjecture more, may not gyzeur puacuos be thought agreeable to this place ? ze. defiling of natures, or sexes, by bestial or un- natural mixtures ; sce Lev. chap. xviii. where all the abominable practices, here mentioned are farbidden, and the idolatrous Canaanites on that account said to be driven out. I shall only add,. that persons guilty of such uncleanness, as if it did utterly depose them from their man- hood, and debase their very nature, are, in ‘Scripture, called by the name of dogs, Apocal. xxii, 15, . Ibid. Changing of kind.) Twrciwe tanraays. Our translatars seem to have read, yérews tvaran- yi; but Coverdale’s and the other ancient ver- sions, understand by it, chaungyng of birth, i. e. uncertainty of. legitimate issue ; for, says Cal- met, where marriages. are defiled, and adul- teries frequent,. there. must.be great confusion in the birth of children, “<1? incertitude de la naissance ;” and. spurious and doubtful ones will often be brought.into families. The Vul- pate reads,.‘* nativitatis immutatio ;” and the Arabic more clearly, “ partis commutatio ;” and Badwell, “ prolis suppositio & adulteratio;” expressions all denoting spurious, or suppositi- tious children. Grotius is singularin expound- ing it-of sodomy.. ‘The learned Selden propos- : -@8 it as a conjecture, whether yevictws traaanyn may not relate to some idolatrous rite,. parti- cularly the change of the sex (which is the marginal reading) by the woman assuming the jabit and appearance of a man, and the man of a-woman, which was customary in the worship of the Assyrian Venus; or Astarte. Accord- ing to Juhus Firmicus, the priest of that god- -dess,must not otherwise officiate, “ nisi effa- minent vultum, & virilem sexum ornatu muli- ebri dedecorent.” De errore prof. relig. Cap. iv. And in this sense Selden expounds Deut. xxii. 4. for the mere exchange of habit was not in itself so faulty,-but being an idolatrous rite, ‘as such, it-was forbidden, and is therefore call- ed an abominatiun; see: Selden. Syntag. ii. cap, H 4. who quotes Maimonides, as explaining the precept-in the saine manner, “ ‘Phat the coun. terfeiting- the sex was-not:so.much torbidden, 4 THE BOOK OF, WISROM. : Such. actions of lust -were. also...amyeangayilt Cage + as the worship of idols; and particulanly, sa Veneris &'mascule & forming gacya.” - Nevoch. ¢. xxxviti. p. 3. [Grotius's inte tatiun seems to me the most probable, on yI would read, yevriewx, chunging of generation, which St Paul expresses by «piylec rip, ovat xpiow tie Gnrcac,. Rom. 1. 27. St. Jude by, fe érticw cupric tripas. This may be persica dy oh a changing of the act, of generation, i..¢ a te ing it to an object different from the, ¢ signed by nature. Though indeed this colon, and Sopv6s%¢ ayalar, and yuyxar HIAT Hoey if..th + ‘be no.fault in the original, are so ambigugudly, and, consequently, badly expressed,. that yt is impossible to know for certain what the ay or intended. : eats é Ibid. Disorders .in marriages.) Ipipuy, an fe, This does not mean any indecency, comnutied by either of the married parties, for Nias ig scons tained in adultery, which is next ment ted but incestuous marriages,..which are; mention ed at large, and forbidden, Levit. Fy Vulgate renders, ‘* nuptiarum. inconstanga,” by which it seems to understand. unsettle rare riages which were dissolved at olen He Ibid. dnd shameless uncleannees) i: , Not any particular act or, species,.of jut Lt ness is here meant, but. this, word i tpvigeal the kinds and sorts of it ; one iten Xs plains it, ** omne lascivia gens kee aad Gal. v. 19. For when men are become, ta seh a pitch of wickedness and degeneracy, aq to worship such gods, or evil sprite, on deta in uncleanness, and whase rites are $9..4nfg and shocking, as to be even a man | 3 man nature; such a religion must; of, course corrupt their lives, and produce thoge mangas a lous disorders and vile affections,: which. here . enumerated. We have the like melanel ' 4 4 a6 3 : hon) count of the heathen vices, Rom.. i, aN which the apostle charges upon theirai as the consequences and effects of it 3. abandoned them, who had displeased na) uch by idol- worship, to those unnatue called there dfn. ériag, as. being: the, gh abuse. of the species, and,.a dishapope it human. nature. That such instanges and uncleanness, as are. here menpionrdy,, practised frequently by the. heathens sacred rites ; see Levit. xviiie 94.1 Kis 24, xv. 19,. 9. Kings. xxiii.,7... k. Pepe rience wrntia, which -the.. fathers, wterpret to signify.an action.,of, lusty); some,of St Panl’s epistles called idolatry, _ Chk: eV. THE ‘BOOK Ginedits “iti their worship, Epiphian.: Meeres. "Sea. (And instdnces‘are still-more flagrant in “peta or a a : Wer! $7; For the worshipping of idols not to be ‘gamed: The: Jews were forbidden to make “mention of the names of the heathen idols, ‘Badd. Kili 13. or * idols of the people,” ‘as “the Chitdee paraplitase expresses it} which the (Vulgate explains by, “ Per nomen externorum Decorum non’ jurabitis, neque audietur ex ore ‘vestro :?* ‘which the Psalmist likewise refers to, and ‘resolves ‘against 3)“ Their drink-offerings 6f blgdd will I not offer, neither make mention of théir‘hAdmes within my “lips,” Psal. xvi. 5. Ati this ‘thé ‘Israclites religiously observed ; for they either changed the name of the idol, ‘ahd of ‘the places dedicated to its worship, or ‘else substituted such -a word as had some affi- nity With the’true name,’ but withal expressed theif Contempt and abhorrence of it : Thus they “ened Baal,! Bosheth, ioe. shame; Hos. ix. 10. “And'Wen''the' Mount of Olives was ‘defiled ‘Avath Wolatry; they: called it the ** Mount of “Corruption,” '2 Kings, xxiii. 13. changing the Hebrew “hades. And ‘Bethel, which signifies tte Ronde of Gor, when“it’ came to be the seat ‘of Tadldtry,'was called Beth-aven, i:'e. ** the ‘holide'et Vanity; ‘Hos. iv. 15. x. 5. | In like : trfatlitel tidy thatged Beelzebub into Beelzebul, '£,'3..%4 Dofinus Stercoreus,” by way of con- ‘témpe dhit derision : And that grand impostor ' Barchochiab, who would have .passed for the Méésf4h inthe reign of Trajan, they called, Nea Selden, Barchozibam, i.e. ‘* filtum men- ‘@avit™ Syntag. ii. cap. 6. where more instan- ‘ges' of this o¢cur. And as the Jews were not “'voiheftitn the names of the heathen idols, or stiatige pods, so neither might they cause to ‘sweat by ‘them, Josh. xxiii. 7. Maimonides "says; that) ‘by the Hebrew canons, it was for- bidden t6' make an infidel swear by his God, ‘or ¥en to’ mention the name thereof. De Idol. ““Pbid. For the worshipping of tdols is thé bexinning, the cause, and the end of all evil.} Riblath ‘iss id! the opinion of Tertullian, the Ievintitifaberithe of: mankind, ‘the chief-gailt of “the World® the total cause of God’s judgments: “and dispitasure y'for thus -lre ‘begins: his book Ped letlblaeria #'-**” St Austin quotes this very passage, and draws the like inference > “ Quis digné cogitans inhabitationem apud Deum, non enitatur ita vivere, ut tali habita- tioni congruat?” Lib. De fid. & oper. There is also another sense of this’ place, which seems more agreeable to the Greek, viz. * We will'not sin, because we know that we are in the numtbet of thy cbildren, and that thou regardest us as thine own peculium.; from this consideration Bs ie Me ee nw 172! and pérsuasion; and from a mote geherdus*mo- tive than that of a servile fear,’ we will bechred ' ful- how: we offend thee: at any time, and forfeit thy love and regard for us.” The predéstina- rians therefore grossly abuse this passage, whett they urge it in favour of absolute election; as if-thé sense of the place was, “* We shall not sin, knowing that we are thy chosen.” But there is no authority from any of the verstons for such a conceited interpretation; nor does human frailty permit it, or the Scripture make any man a vessel of mercy absolutely and un- conditionally. ; Ver. 3. (For lo know thee is perfect righteous- ness; and to know thy power is the root of immor- zafity.)) By knowing God, is not meant a bar- ren knowledge, purely speculative ; but a prac- tical knowledge,.or such as worketh by love, and is known by .its fruits, in which consists perfect righteousness ; and as the commission of sin is the cause of corruption and misery, so the knowledge of God’s power, and that dread and fear of its effects, which keeps men from sinning, may properly be said to be the root of immor- tality; as such a well-grounded faith leads to holiness, from whence, as from its true source, happiness'is to be expected. : Ver.'4. For neither hath the invention of men deceived us, nor'an tinage.] It appears from this verse, as: well as other particulars in this book, that king-Solomon was not the author of it, how- ever dignified with his name; for, whether we understand us, to mean Solomon himself, which is net an unusual manner of expression, when applied to, or spoken by kings, or whether we understand it of the people of the Jews in his time, what is mentioned here does not suit with the morals and character of him, or his people. For it is certain, that Solomon revolted to idola- try, and that this otherwise great prince, con- trary to the caution given, Exod. xxxiv. 16. took him wives of the Moabites and Ammonites and other strange women, who turned his heart after other gods. And it seems highly proba- ble, by what is mentioned, 1-Kings xi. 33. that numbers of the people followed his example in worshipping Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zido- nians ; Chemosh,'the god of the Moabites ; and. Milcolm, the god of the children of Ammon. VYhe Jews indeed, after the captivity, had.the good fortune to'keep themselves pure from: the abominations of the’ heathens ; and from hence one may ‘conclude; that this-writer lived after. the captivity; for beford that time he could not: say this with! any trath ‘or confidence, ‘when: THE BOOK OF ‘WISDOM. Cie. 3D idolatry wasso common both in Tsveekaintdmdahs! bid. Nor’ an image ‘spotted sith wverstokaaign: the yninter?s fruitless labours) Fron hence : Gros; tius concludes the author of ‘this’book tou be-ay: Alexandiian Jew ; for they, following thesdéxio position which the LXX make of the ceoatoguesn (supposed likewise to be Alexandrian! fewsy, seé'Hody De Bibl. text. orig.) understand 43 arwac Ti¢ Suofoue in the most extensive sense 5 anthiiyey clude pictures, as well as images and :stathegy: under the prohibition in the second command): ment, see Grot. in Exod. xx. And Philo dn. derstands the words in the same sense, Lib. ‘De!) Gigant. and the like notion occurs in ‘his ‘pieces De legatione. It is observable likewise, that/a painter here is called ox:aypapec, 1. e. a drawerohy shadows. Calmet observes from Pliny, libs, xxxv. that there was no painter so early as -theli time of the Trojan war ; that its beginning wash rude and accidental, found out at Corinth, by? tracing with a pencil the shade which:a man's body cast upon the wall. Comm, in loc... Thi! was its original, at first very simple, without any”: colours, diversity, or mixture; without’ any“of' that variety, boldness, or life; without: ‘thata contrast, or pleasing emulation between art and: nature; in a word, without that je ne scad' ghayg' which is so much admired in complete-and> finished pieces; which improvement;the authdl 1 seems to mention as a probable inducement'to: idolatry. fone Ver. 5. The sight whereof enticeth fouls todusts after it.| Our translators seem to have mademse of a copy which read, etc ¢pe¥v eyes, which isithe' reading of the Alexand. MS, but the most.como! mon reading is that to which our margin refers\> cig ovessog Epyedar. [That is, becometh a reproach.’ I should prefer, agpoow — molto. The words tamer, ver. 6. I think, plainly proves ‘thao! opegw is the true reading.}. Dr Grabe; instead! of apsocw, reads £9por, in the singalar numbergt as the Vulgate does insensato ; and ‘wouldstot wolur]: suit this emendation better than wile m5 which is the common reading of the next:sen/. tence? by lust here ment:oned, probably.d) “meant that: filthy lewdness which the..demom: that resided in the idol, often raised in the wor? shipper towards the image itself ; ‘for, that very? great-and scandalous indecencies were practis-/ ed, not ‘only before, but even to the very statues! themselves, is notorious from Pliny und. Arno ‘bins. Thus the latter, “* Pygmalionem, ‘regent Cypri,'simulachrum Veneris adamasse ut foemik' ‘nam, solitumque dementem, : tanquarh si uxena! 'res.esset, ‘sublevato in lectulum. numine Ci¥as. KV lariebratiplettbust’:; Lib: vi. cont, gentes. .And indeed the ward dpséx will warrant this interpre- tatiod ;9for in-such an impure sense it is often taken;‘particularly Rom. i. 27. where the vices of the:idolatrous heathen are enumerated, “ We maychénce seé: the danger, and condemn the vicious taste of pictures, or statues, represented naked, ‘and :in-indecent postures, .which, says Calmét, raise loose ideas in weak and unguarded minds, and more so i tempers already corrupt- ed and-depraved.” - Comm. in loc, (Ver. 6. 07 Spark, our version, they that make them.< It should be, they who do so. For Spar isnot: fucere, but agere ; to do, not to make.} 2Ver.i7. A potter tempering soft earth, fashion- eth every vessel with much labour for our service ; yeay of the same clay he maketh both the vessels that serve for clean uses, and also such as serve to the contrary.) {In the Greek distinguish thus : Ters vate’ aad oucies tere 3%, &e. And also such.as serve to the contrary, all (or both) in like !manner. I would not change iwipoxor, since it. is'so’usual in all writers (and in this in several places) to put an adjective of the neuter gender tor an adverb.] Kai 98 xepayev’s aranbiv viv Saar tripeyber, wrazoe apres vangesiay nuor exasov. 1 think the reading would be better thus: Kai 59 xegaueus amaniy yiy SaiCor, Eripdylos warcoct, x. Ter. This ‘isthe ‘pointing of the Vulgate, which also reads laboriose ; and indeed labour is more re- quired here than in the first instance. The meaning of the whole verse is, ‘‘ Such images in particular are most ridiculous, as are made by the plasterer, or potter, out of clay ; which, though yery:ancient and probably before those of stone:and metal,” see Principes de la Sculp- ture; liv,-li.-c, x. (for as all arts had but rude and.weak beginnings, so there is less difficulty to believe, that images of earth and of clay, were ‘the most early) yet upon account of the mean- ness of the materials, and because the same lump of clay’ is often applied to base and dishonour- able..uses, are therefore the most despicable. And though in general the potter is the best judge of what comes properly under his’ own art and way of business, and knows what is most. suitable to. each design; and in the management of the same lump of clay has it in his power to what uses he will,employ it; yet he never shews his own skill less, or the wretchedness of such an idol more, .than when from a parcel of com- moo ¢arth; whith serves ‘for the meanest uses, and often: for-wessels of dishonour, he. attempts to make va Jupiter or an Apollo. New, 81::4.va/n god] Idols are generally cal- qa Tree THE BOOK: OF WISDOM. 173: led vanities in. the prophetical writings, and by. the. LXX as. frequently: translated, wera, In, Hebrew they are called Ekdim, which-signifies, | 1. Things nothing worth, or which have: no; existence, ra pi ora, Things that are not, as they are called in the. Additions to the book of Esther, chap. xiv. rt. Dicuntur Elim, says,Mercer, a.: nihititate, quasi nihil idola sint, .Comm. insJob, xi. 4. St Paul confirms the same, when he says, that “an idol is nothing in the world,” : 1 Cor. viti. 4. Idols are, 2. Called Lid/im, as. being al Elim, not God, without power or, strength, Lev. xix. 4. Psal. xcvi. 5., whereas , Elim and Elohim, are: gods of strength; see Drus. observ. sac. lib. xvi. 3. Idols are called Elilim, from the Radic Ala, because they are. abominable and accursed things. By the LXX they are also styled ra Jevdn mendacia, .Amos ii. 4. Isai. xxviil. 15. Jer. xvi. 19. and in very many passages of the Apocalypse, Mr,Mede ob- serves, idolaters and liars are synonymous, -Book... v. Cc. 12, of gy put odie Ibid. When his life which was lent jim, shall be ; demanded. } To rns Yuxins amailnbeg Xess Phe. , drus thus expresses the like thought, “ Cum. Mors vicina flagitabit debitum: , Life is repre- sented in the same manner as a debt, by many | of the ancients ; thus Plato, 4 re yania, 4 79 x9éav, wta etiam est debitum. Tully has a very, remark-° able expression: upon the occasion; “ Dederunt. [Dii] vitam tanquam pecuniam, nulla. prestitu- ta die,” Tusc. quest. hb. i, Thus Seneca, speak- . ing of the wise man, says, “ Vivit commodatus sibi, reposcentibus sine tristitia redditurus.”’ . De. tranquil animi, cap. xi. Hence the phrase, an- mam reddere, to die. We meet withthe like. thought often in Philo; see also Joseph. Antiq. , lib. vii. c. 45. lib. viti. 12. Arrian, Dissert. in, Epict. lib. iii. c. 13. Luke xii. 20. where the, same expression is used, and on-the like.occa~. sion, TavTn ™ yux]i ray Yoxiv oY cmullerw acd oe. Ne Ver. 9. Notwithstanding his care is, not.that ‘he | Shall have much lubour, nor that his life is short,. but that he striveth to excel goldsmiths....... : and counteth it his glory to make counterfeit things.) Dr Grabe thinks instead of .avfepaddas, . which is the common reading, eJepi@Jas. would. be more expressive, and agree -better, with pimua- , zai, which follows after. Prolegom. tom. ult: cap. 4. There is another sense of these- words; which the Greek will admit of, i, e. he has no. concern or care upon him, lest he should. be sich ‘or die, (oz BEANE nauresr) which: is, the marginal’ reading, and-that at best his life is but short, but,. his whole .contest -and aim; is for glory, and to. 174 carry the prize from all competitors, even the most celebrated in other arts ; contending either for the precedence of the plastic art, above that of sculpture, &c. as being the mother art (ma- ter staluarur, sculpture, & cwlaturce ; see Steph. Dict. Histor. in voce Praxrrees) or that his own excellence exceeds, or equals the best per- formances in metal; but his ambition herein is faulty, for he ought to consider this material dif- ference, that not only his own life is short and uncertain, but that the materials of his counter- feit things, i. e. his earthen fulse gods (and such Varro assures us were common even in the city of Rome; see Pliny, xxxv. 12.) are mouldering and brittle: whereas the other artificers here mentioned, whether gold-smiths, or workers in brass, make their deities of what is more solid and durable, and do not descend to the same instances of meanness as to their matter. Though the worship of such gods as come out of the smith’s furnace, or are fashioned by the anvil and hammer, is not here the more commended upon account of the value or strength of the materials, idolatry in every shape being, accord- ing to Arnobius, who was once guilty of it, a degree of madness. Lib. i. cont. Gent. [Ibid. Counterfeit things, Sc. KiG}ux. See note on xi. 16. according to which this place is to be explained. Observe the opposition be- tween Soar and x/€3mae by which the author ex- poses the absurdity of this artificer, who ima- gines that 82 can be acquired by labouring in xuGdnnore. Ver. 10. Saedéc i xagdia avy. One might ra- ther haveexpected 1 xepupy/w, or épyasiz, or some- thing to that purpose.] Ver. 11. Forusmuch as. he knew not his Maker, and kim that inspired into him an active soul} St Chrysostom has the like comparison and obser- vation, Taxa per % Kepausws vale pia, xt a. “ The clay and the potter are of the same nature ; the potter indeed excels the clay in beauty and dig- nity; but it is not owing to any difference of Mature, but to the wisdom and appointment of his Maker.” De incompreh. Dei. Nat. Hom. xxvil. His obligation, in particular, therefore, to God stands confessed, who made him what he is, gave him superior excellence, and animat- ed him above that senseless mass which he abuses, by inspiring into him an active soul; auinam que operatur, says the Vulgate, that very soul by which he works, according to Coverdale’s version ; and Calmet understands it in the seme sense, “ Cette meme ame par Jaqueile il tra- vaille,” a seul so active in its operations, that THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Car. XY, it may be in general affirmed to be the principle of all the designs, inventions, and actions;of the best workmen, and most experienced artists [But then it should be unimam per quam operg. tur ; and in the Greek there must have been.the article, puxay riv crepyeay, which even then would not have expressed Coverdale’s version.., Ogy translation is right, supposing the author meant erepye]auiy. Zelaxcy THU Ke, a quickening, (not living) Spirit. Trevex Cwoworwr, 1 Cor. xv. 45-] vn ai Ver. 12. But chey counted our life a pastime, and our tine here a market for gain.) i.e. Says Calmet, such persons of unlawful occupatiogs seem to imagine life to be either a farce, -or co, medy for diversion, or a fair and market for ad- vantage; the fathers very commonly make use of the first simile, representing life as a comedy, in which every man must bear his part, and should endeavour to acquit himself with ap. plause and satisfaction ; but in a sense quite dif ferent from that of iibertines, who indeed make life, and what is serious and useful in it, a farce, and by proposing mere diversion and_ sinful pleasures as the wltimutum of their happiness. make a ridiculous figure upon the stage of Jife,. and their exit is as contemptible. There are others who consider life as a great market for. gain, who are only intent upon amassing riches, , without considering the lawfulness of their calh:, ings, or the means they make use of for obtain; ing them ; who care not how they are employed, whether it be in making earthen deities, or silver shrines for some Diana, provided “ it may bring no small gain unto the craftsmen ;” as if their. maxim was that mentioned in Horace, _ Ut facias rem, wilt Si possis, recte ; si non, quocunque modo rem. Epist. lib. i. Epist. t... which cannot be better translated than as it stands in our version, “ We must .be gettig, every way, though it be by evil means.” St Chrysostom’s reflection upon the mistaken com duct of mankind is very just, “ Qur life and our employments are like the pastimes of children; like them we make a serious atfair of laying ap, trifles, building houses, which tunable suddenly;.. and should they continue any long time, woud be of no great service to us, as we must leave them, and what we have heaped together, will, not follow us into the other world.” [In thé Greek, it is ’Aav’ éroyioaro, which, l believe, - should be énoyicato, Sut he connted, vit. thd Per: - son he has been speaking of: as syronct just, Re: fore, and oysir in this verse. + ait Ver. 14. And all the cneinies of thy. peapie.» Cuar. XV. THE BOOK that hold them in subjection,| Kaladuvaswoartes av- ix, which seems to imply more than holdin them in subjection ; it means oppressing them, and abusing their power over them. Accord- ingly Junius renders, ‘ Qui potentia in ipsum abutuntaur.” From hence likewise an argu- ment may be drawn, that Solomon was not the author of this book, because what is mentioned here of the Israelites being held in subjection, and oppressed by their enemies, does not agree with the happy and prosperous times of Solo- mon; see ‘I Kings iv. 20, 21, 24, 25. [It ts the reterperfect tense, xA uraseiroee, who have hele not, who hold.) Af theretore the Jews were in the low and oppressed state here men- tioned, and were not so in the time of Solomon, it follows by an easy consequence, that’ this hook was not wrote by him, nor in his time. This probably relates to the condition of the Jews, after their return from the captivity, when this writer seems to have lived. [bid. Are most foolish, and are more misera- ble than very babes.] As being idolators ; for that children, through inexperience and weak- ness of judgment, may often mistake images or statues for real persons, is no wonder ; since sometimes art has arrived to such a happy imi- tation of nature, that even grown persons at first sight at a distance, have mistaken them tor life. Hence those expressions in the poets, “ Vivi de marmore vultus, and spirantia wera.” And hence probably the fable of Pygmalion’s love of a favourite statue. Lactantius, pro- ducing those verses of Lucilius, Pueri infantes credunt signa omnia ahcna Vivere, 9 esse homines. observes, like this writer, that such as worship idols, are weaker than children, ‘* I!li enim si- mulachra homines putant, hi Deos.” Ver. 15. For they counted all the idols of the heathens to be gods, which neither have the use of eyes to see.] i. e. they cannot observe the behaviour and devotion wherewith their votaries look up to them, and prostrate themselves be-~ fore them. The imperfection of idols is de- scribed in like manner. Psal.. cxv. 5, 6, 7. cxxxv. 16, 17. which this writer seems to have copied. Nor can we better expound that controverted passage, 2 Sam. v. 6, 8. than of David’s ridiculing the idols of the Jebusites, or certain brazen images and statues of those heathen divinities in which they confided, call- ing them ‘* the lame and the blind,” by way of derision, supposed indeéd. by them, to be the divine guards of the fort, the Talismanical OF WISDOM. 175 protectors of it; sec Gregory’s notes and Oh- servat. p. 33. [tbid. For they counted, &c. "Or: 3 x3ura—ine- yizavio. This is net exact, nor the reasoning clear, Instead of é7: 4 rave, the Alexand. MS and Complut. edit. have én waz: and Alex- and. waja ra éloaz. Whence I would read and connect the passage thus—Oi ixfpoi 7¥ vad ov, xdladluvascvoartes aurér, cr TE why lee 70 FAYAS Tay eve éroyisav]o Owe, &c. So that here will be two sort of persons declared miserable and foolish, wz. Those who have ever oppressed the Jews, God’s people ; and those who have counted the idols of the nations, or heathen, to be no gods at all, If the vulgar reading oarJa ddoaz be retained, it may be translated any idols, which is a very usual signification of was. Ibid. Nor noses to draw breath, nor ears to hear.| They have not the faculty of respira- tion, though necessary to the very being of life : and for the same reason the offering of incense and sweet odours to them is fruitless, since they are insensible of the smell of them, and of the respect intended by them. It is equally vain to put up prayers and supplications to them ; for, as appears from the instance of the worshippers of Baal, though they cry aloud to their false gods from morning even until noon, “There shall be no voice, nor any that will answer,” 1 Kings xviii. 26. Philo sneers such worshippers, whom he calls, ‘* Homines deplorat2 amentia,”? in smart but pleasant terms, ** Heus vos, virl egregii, votorum suim- ma, & felicitatis finis, est, reddi Deo similes ;. orate igitur ut similes fiatis vestris statuis, non videntes oculis, non audientes auribus, & sum- ma felicitate fruemini.’”” Ibid. Nor fingers of hands to handle, and as for | their feet they are slow to go.) And though they are often represented to their worshippers with thunderbolts in their hands, and made to appear terrible with daggers, and other instruments of vengeance, yet have they no use of them,- nor do the wicked experience any harm or pun- ishment from them. ‘Their feet too are equal- ly useless, apyof wpic tx/Cacw, whieh would be bet- ter rendered unable to go; for idols cannot pro- perly be said to move slowly, which do not move at all, epyoi here being the same as aipyoi, i.e. ** Feet idle and useless for walking.” Ver. 16. But no man can make a god like un-. to himself. ] Oudeis » aurea oaoroy avBpwzrog isxves maracas Orv, ** Nemo enim sibi similem homo poterit Deum fingere,” says the Vulgate, which our version follows, as if the original reading was, iquro [or aure | éuoor, and not av7o. The 196 Alexand.-MS has vee yop arbpdrar spor lexvei wadcas Or but something seems here wanting ; srobably the true reading here is, with a very fittle variation wer 59 avrar Soro aerOpcamres io nues ena ea: Or. And I offer this conjecture with the more confidence, as itis the exact reading of the Syriac version, ‘* Nemo autem illorum fa- bricare potest Deum homini similem,” i. e. None of the artists can make a god like, ‘or e- qual to, a man; for the maker of the idol, having life and motion, far exceeds the artifi- cial god, who ‘wants both: herein only the idol-makers, and such as worship and confide in them, are like the idol, because they are e- qually senseless. And thus that passage of the Psalinist is to be understood, ‘* They that make them are like unto them, and so are all they that put their trust in them,” Psal. cxv. §. see De Muis in loc. ; - Ver. 17. For he himself is better than the things which he worshippeth.] If the maker, therefore, of the idol be mortal, how can the dead thing which he worketh be supposed to have immor- tality? The reasoning, therefore, in the epistle of Jeremy is very just, “ They themselves that made them can never continue long. how should then the things that are made by them be gods?” vi. 46. ‘* What an absurdity is it, says Chrysostom, for a person to worship an idol, the _ work perhaps of his own hands ; as if men had the power of making a god, and it ceased to be any longer their workmanship. If idols had any sense, they ought rather to worship men as their makers, since even the laws of nature teach us, that, according to the stated order of causes and effects, the maker is more perfect than his work, and not preposterously the work than the ma- ker.” Serm. de tribus pueris. And Lactantius no less expressly, ‘“ What divinity, says he, can an idol have, which it was in the maker’s power to have made in another manner,-or not to have made at all?” Upon the comparison, therefore, as Philo justly argues upon this occasion, the artists themselves deserve rather to have beencon- seerated, and to have received divine honours, than their works to be deified, and themselves for- gotten : which shews the great absurdity of idol- worship in general, and ofthe maker particu- larly, in falling down before his own handywork. Ibid. Of whom he lived once, but they never.] Toy aurig pir now, exewa S Weak. This is the reading in the Alexandrian MS, and all the edi- tions ; but it seems difficult to determine what dy relates to, or is governed by, except from such preposition as aj; be dropt, or understood THE BOOK OF ‘WISDOM. Coane, before-dv, or we might read instead oftetrty gy this place, arf'dr: Burif this be objected ygaiap why may Not br avtde pty ender, ‘tt, RDS ted? Which sense is confirmed by the’Virigite, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and thetefoeay bably may be the true reading.’ ‘Cakinet ; “ parce qu'il vit, quelque-tems,” which afi to de or é7, the former of whioh’might: Mkewte do here. [*Qr, quorum, ex quibus, illequtddn, vixit : ista vero numquam.” Pointed thuyyxyt. dy, auric pir, &e.] iL Lo | Ver. 18. Yea, they worshipped those bedste 4]. so that are most hateful.| Ta Gow ra ixbsa} whith may mean ‘either mischievous or oditus; sichiy wolves, dogs, cats, lions, crocodiles, vebpeuts, Thus Cicero, after having mentioned. that al. thost all sorts of beasts were worshipped bythe Egyptians, “ Boves, canes, lupos, feles,: quilts nihil foedius, obscoenius, lutulentius ne. saver quidem ipsa viderit,” adds, that even’such Si. mals as were really mischievous and.’Rurehabto mankind were adored by them, viz.2brucdtles, asps, serpents ; “ Etiam animaliumt-rhonvttedl. laa quibus hominum generi preecipua ineoptinio. da inferuntur, crocodilos, aspidas, - sérpeye,” De Consol. See note on ch. xi."1 5. and ohomti, 24. This worship of the serpent»is'aheanttre surprising, as the naturalists observe, thayaver since the fall of our first parents, o¢castonedby the subtlety of the serpent, there: is: thieamost deadly enmity between mankind ‘andthe wr. pent, and the strongest aversion and antiga to it above all the beasts of the fieldis Phisseiys, Mr Mede, discovers itself both: in! the+nateral and sensitive faculties of them both,'! {or their humours are poison‘to each other, and-esoltiof them is astonished and frightened ‘atthe wight, and presence of the other, Disc. 42. ’ [Asthe author here seems to be speaking of those beasts which are most monstrous and frightful sepilgok at, I should think that, instead of 7a £04 vate. Bisa, he wrote ddexfisale, the most ughyjfanave 3. det rir edéxbaar rar tmamesarpéror which poeatly favours this conjecture, which seems to‘bbdes cessary to the sense. For he is proving;Abatas -they worshipped the mos¢ ugly creatures, sethey, were punished inkind, by the mosé ug/y cteannes, 3? Suolor txoaceSnear. Possibly sonrething!|| AN same kind may be concealed under the: wotdsqir txdpay, in ch. xii..24. Ta 3 iv Coac randy Oper Wie] Ibid. For being compared together; sdmpoart worse than others.] Either more! misohiguauty | more odious, and more senseless than: dehers/ J0 the last sense Grotius understands: this phate j and the Vatican, and some other copies, ataqutt Qndta HV. ee croferecd,,se¢n¥ to. countenance it,.which FAAS EV DS ieby gt ucrce Tor canor. isi recigoras.. Amd ' pordmescthe -Vulgate, * insensata.enim compa- rehisiy ible! sunt deteriora.” And-the like " epnse,infayoured by the Bishops. Bible, and all _shp ancient. English versions: But draa, in this -plecae is-liable to-many objections,: whether. ta- sKermadjestively, or, considered as.a substantive. nibbe truereading undoubtedly is that of the A- JJexandran® ‘MS, na: 3. cuyx pao aera Tar Ganwr isi xepova, which our translators very justly render, Being compared together, some are worse than others;”-which is true, in general, or with respect ag those particular animals which the Egyptians Ayorshipped,.as.appears by the next verse. ° 4 Mer.ag. «Neither are they beautiful, so much. as sto be desired ix, respect of beasts. “Ehe Bishops and. the Geneva Bible rendet. more properly and . explicitly;.“, Neither have they any beauty to ie desired.an respect of other beasts.” Calmet odbaerves, that, as to the. appearance of reason aitdwnderstanding, many other animals, parti- ijcadankys the horse,.-elephant, and fox, are more surprising, Sagacious, and cunning, than the ox; " sheep, wolf, or beetle, which the Egyptians rec- kon. among their deities. And as to beauty, al- atanostialkrbeasts, (not, -to..mention birds, which » omaysbe heres included:.among the wa or living: 4cbeatures) are preferable, in that respect, to ser- ~pents; and-crocodiles,. which they have such-a segand; for..-Gom..insloc. According to .Mes- _ssieprs.du: Port-Royal, the meaning of this and che, fate going verse may. be, that some of the a- lemimals;which the °Egyptians worshipped were asd frightful and monstrous,. that if. compared e- :-Weaswith some curious pieces of art, particu- sdarly: with:idols, or, statues expressed to the life, » ithgy seem less worthy of adoration, because > euch Ainished pieces of art have something in 2 hem pleasing and entertaining to the sight, and -gate the more engaging by their. great likeness yzoyand resemblance of .men ; whereas their sa- y{aesed animals, and serpents.in particular, are so snodious above all. others; that. they naturally .n-sttike, those, that-look on them with dread and yrhorzor.;.[Translate..thus, ‘ Neither..as beasts. 2yame;they: beautifulj:so as to be desired,” i. e. so »vasthat anybody. should be.fond.of-them.} . ‘y thibide Butitheyiwent without the praise-of-God . rand las blessing.} i. 6. suys,Calmet, they are not- ‘ Ofithe numberof those whom.God praised and., cuidaomedis: they have, by. being abused and per- iL verted: tosttlolatry, renounced; in-some, measure, shaqdiai bededictinn, and: lostithaboriginal.good- ananess 2nd: beauty: which they: swereyposycssed of ple. than wrth the wicked, exemplified by a pa- -rallel drawn ‘between eee by . bis, - sending. 178 frogs among the. Egyptians, which came upon. their tables, and: made, ‘them to loath, and fig from even their necessary food, but the Israelites were fed with quails. That God, even when he punishes his chosen, deals more favourably with them than with the heathen, shewn by a comparison betweenthe punishment of the Egyp- tians by flies and locusts, and that of the Israel- ites by fiery serpents, who though their torment was greatest for the present, had a sovereign remedy appointed for their cure, even the brazen serpent, which was the means and in- strument of health, and a sign of salvation to such as turned to it, and with faith looked upon tt—To the strange hail and rain sent upon the Egyptians is opposed the manna, or bread from beaven given to the Israelites: that, to serve the purposes of God's providence, the very ele- ments suspended their natural force, according to his appointment ; so that hail was not melt- ed by fire mixed with it, nor manna dissolved _ by its power, though the sun had a different effect upon it.. By all which instances opposed to each other by way of antithesis, God’s care in preserving the righteous was remarkably displayed, and his vengeance against sinners no less visible. Ver. 2. Thou preparedst meat for them of a strange taste.} i. e. A taste they were unac- customed to. Coverdale renders @ new tayst, for we must not suppose any new creation of quails for their use ; the miracle consisted in this, that they were brought in such quantities, and at such a particular time, and fell in such places only as God appointed, viz. round the camp for their nourishment. Bishop Patrick, from the authority of Ludolphus, thinks, that locusts are here meant; but the Psalmist, by calling them feathcred fowls, manifestly under- stands real birds; Psal. Ixxviii. 28. See De Muis in loc. Bochart. vol. iii. p. 108. Ibid. To stir up their appetite.| Big iabuuiar o- pégews. This seems not properly rendered, for that their appetite was sufhciently keen, appears from their impatient murmuring for meat. The Geneva Bible renders better, ‘* To satisfie their appetite, thou hast preparid a meat of a strong taste.” But Coverdale’s, and the Bishops Bible come nearer the Greek: According to the former, “‘ God gave them their desyre that they longed for ;’” according to the latter, «* He prepared for the desireof their appetite, a strange taste.” And thus Calmet, « i lui -donnant Ja nourviture delicicuse qu’ il avoit desirée.” ; THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Creak SD The, Psplmistrexpresses it hy, according. ‘totig LXX, ray trbupian ovtonnreyew ovrate: Psalolxawiiig: 29;; ‘This gracious dealing, as it is heve called seems ;to refer to the first sending) af A uidilsy mentioned Exod. xvi. 13. ‘rather :than:the cond, which happened a year after, -Numbeai;. 31. for the Israelites, upon, their second petition for them, betraying too much, impatience, were afflicted with, a plague for their murmug e, and, as the Psalmist expresses it, ‘*-While(the meat was yet in their mouths, the heavy. wrath of God came upon them, and slew the wealthi. est of them,’”’ Psal. Ixxviii. S1. Calmet seems to include both, and thinks there is -a.mixtyy of mercy towards his people, even in this.judgs ment; his reflection upon it is worth inserting, “If God, (says he,) fed his people thus deligy ously even when they had provoked him, -whag will he not give them, when they shall be fajpy ful and obedient to him?’’ In either, sens¢, the instance proves what the author, brings for, viz. God’s different manner of dealing,wath his own people, and such as are strangers tq him. [For «¢ tabuyier, the Alexandrian MA reads, oi¢ ei¢ tw fuular which, 1 believe, is, night] if, instead of evepysInzac, you write rnpyémneatsiand rpopiic (or rpupiic) tor tpopiv, and zor -cireyemiopoifon viv avayxeier. ‘Lhe whole thus:. Arf igi xex cunpyérusac ov rady ov, ofc, ets exibumior, opitings tom ytvow TpOpIG Hroiwacas, SpTuyounT pay iva éxerron jee erBuuerlec Tpopie, Sa rv adex Geray TOY ETA MESAALUOOY Tor draynatwy cpetir amospipatas avroi St, See. hee a parallel place, ch. xix. 11, 12. where; dn’ yevow is expressed by vier yéreow, and tpapicd for rpupic) by eeouola rpupiic. “Opetic rev arayealobsidy ‘* an appetite to those things which are: neces: sary to the preservation of life,” viz. meatand drink. | «nod? Ver. 3. To the end that they, desiring food, might, for the ugly sight of the beasts sent amdhg them, loathe even that which they must aes. Kai riv cvayxaier ok arosstpurla. The Bishopé Bible gives the true and literal translation; ‘** To the intent that they.... might begino loathe even their necessary appetite.’”’ The Vulé gate, and St Jerom’s Bible, as it is calledyzen der in like manner, ‘* Etiam a necessaria cose cupicentia averterentur,” i, e. throagh thd dis agreeableness of the animals sent amongat:them, Sie viv edexOcrar rov tramesaruivor, as the truer ing is, particularly the frogs, which: taintediaad spoiled their meat, they loathed, the thonghts and the desire even of necessary foot! anths& freshment. Josephus gives the same, accgunt of these disagreeable animals, - rae. xat? Oi XML askin diatttic; xo 2.x: Domesticam etiam’ vite ediunriconstetudenem ‘turbarune: in: edulis & potli repertis,: & in lectis-eorum passim oberran- tebdiAntiq. Jud. lib. ii. co. 14. This plague puts one in’ mind of the Harpyes, which Virgil thus describes!” ORY nelle foros, dapibusque epulamur opimis. la «4 saibied hab if lapsu de montibus adsunt DEatpyia; (& magnis quatiunt clangoribus alas, o\\Diriprunique dapes, contactuque omnia feedant ’ Immundo>tkhm vox tetrum dira inter odorem. hte aa Gia Eneid. lib. iii. “Wer, 4) For it was requisite that upon them ex- ereising ‘tyranny; should come penury which they could'notavbid.| "Amapatrifoy tSeavimenday, ‘© Po- verty'withibut excuse,” according to some of the ancierit English-versions ; the Geneva Bible bas‘ extreme poverty,” and Coverdale’s fol- lows the Vuleate, which renders, -‘ interitum sive “excusatione ;” draparrrog will bear any of these 'sibnifications, which occasioned such a differeniee ih the'versions. The author shews, in this,"and the following verses, God’s diffe- rédt tannet ‘of dealing with ‘the Israelites and Egyptians iv “three particulars. 1. That he ponished the Egyptians with rigour, as a severe judge; tormentmg‘them ‘for their tyranny and Oppression ofothers, with deserved, extreme; mevitable: want: or: hunger, occasioned by the animals: which infested them, and drove them from'their necessary sustenance: But he chas- tised his own people as a father, afflicting them comparatively but a little, but, by that little, making ‘them sensible, how tenderly he had dealt. with them in comparison of their ene- mies. 2.-That though he’suffered the Hebrews to be in want for a small season, yet he kept them from perishing by hunger in the wilder- ness ; amd to recompence, as it were, that short affliction: by hunger, he fed them after, not on- ly with: neeessary food, but satiated them with elieacies ini abundance. But a succession of Plagues, without respite, pursued the Egyp- tians.: &.-That though the whole wilderness, through which the Israelites marched so many years, was'full of fiery serpents, Deut. viii. 15. yet God did not permit these to assault them but for a small season only, and even ‘then he appointed an immediate remedy to heal them ; viz. ‘the’ brazen serpent ;but the Egyptians died without mercy, neither was there any cure provided for the wounds and stings which they seceived from the flies and locusts, ; Vers 5.\For when the «horrible fierceness of beasts:-came- upon. these. ] “Ore aurcic Sewde trtAhe THE ‘BOOK OF WISDOM. 179 Sighuy Supcs.\Oupic here does not signify ferceness, but poison. . Thus Apoc. xiv. 8. what our ver- sion: renders, ** the wine of the wrath of her for- nication,” Mr Mede expounds ‘* the poison of her fornication.” See also, ch. xviii. 3. where there is the like expression. And it is remarkable, that the same word in the Hebrew, signifies, both wrath and poison: Mede’s Works, p. 410. And Suués is used by the Hellenistical Jews, in the same double respect. ‘To the observation of this very judicious writer, I shall add an instance or two from the Old: Testament, than which no- thing can be closer, or more evince the setise | am contending for. The first is, Deut. xxxii; 33. Oupis Spanovlor 0 clvog aura, % Juss atmriev avidles, where it is twice used, in the same Verse; in this sense, and our translators yender-accdrding- ly, ‘** their wine is the poison of dragons; and the cruel venom of asps.”? The’ next -is, Job EX. 16, Ovpir 9 Ypaxdylor Inrdoeny, arercr 88 avriy yadson peoe, Which our translators rightly render, ** He shall suck the poison of asps, the vipers tongue shall slay him.””? And in ver. 14. oF the same chapter, xoai which is synonymous to Suzie, is used in the'same sense. Xoat dewidoc yasp: avrs, which, though it signifies both wrath and poison, our version takes in the latter sense, and renders, ‘* the gall of asps is within him.” The last instance I+ shall‘:mention*is, that in Psal. Iviii. 4. Qupdc avroie kare tiv! ouelworr Te. 6pEaE, which, in our version, is happily rendered, ‘* their poison is like the poison‘ of a serpent.” This poison, as naturalists observe, ‘is the con- sequence of their rage, and ‘thrown: out by ‘it, and therefore may be considered ‘as’ one and the same. The word tana, here used by our author, intimates, (says Bochart,) the sudden- ness of the attack of these venomous creatures, who accordingly renders this place, ‘*-super- venit (tanquam ex improviso) serpentiins -vene- num,” vol. iil. p. 425. - Ibid. And they perished with the stings of crook. ed serpents, thy wrath endureth not fur ever.) The sacred story relates, that the Israelités, by their rebellious murmuring, provoked God’ to send serpents among them, whose poison’ was so mortal, that it broaght: the most ‘paintel death upon them.—In this affliction, they ad- dressed themselves -to the father of mercies, who, moved by their repentance, commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass, and erect it ona pole in view of the whole camp, that whosoever looked upon it should be~ healed. ‘This punishment, by serpents,-the son of Si- rach reckons among other instances of God’s oO “a 182 vengeance, ‘all these were created: for vené geance, teeth of wild beasts, and:scorpions; ser- pents, and the sword, punishing the wicked ‘to destruction,’ Eeclus. xxxix, 30. where the margin refers to this very passage. Bat it has been thought, by some learned men, ‘to have been a punishment adapted on purpose by God to the transgression of the Israelites, which was evil speaking against the Lord, and slandering his providence. In this view, the conformity between the sin and the punishment is very visible, and the justness of our author’s obser- vation, ch. xi. 16. further proved. Zxeasde, like- wise, the epithet here given to the serpent, will equally suit the slanderer ; for he is crook- ed through artifice, as the other is by nature ; is alike mischievous and designing, and, to serve his own purposes, can turn himself into as many odious shapes. Solomon makes the same comparison, Eccles. x. 11. The serpent was a known hieroglyphic among the Egyp- tians and other nations ; and perhaps its crook- edness and peifection in turning, was one rea- son of its being made the symbol of their year. Ver. 6. Having a sign of salvation, to put them in remembrance of the commandment of thy daw.] The sign of salvation here mentioned was the brazen serpent, erected, by God’s com- mand, upon a pole, or standard, like the Ro- man eagle, for the cure of the people. It was in the opinion of many learned men, the image of saraph, or glorious winged serpent. Arias Mont, reads Numb. xxi. 8. “¢ Fac tibi saraph.” It was a symbol of a good ministering angel, which executeth God’s will on earth, whilst a secret virtue, from the unseen God, perfected the cure, by whose supernatural power it was effected, whose mercy worked in, and by that emblem. It is properly therefore called a sign of salvation, as it was the instrument only through which the cure was conveyed. But it was sa/utare signum, or the means of recovery to such only as looked up to it with faith ; and its saving effect depended upon their reliance on God, and belief of his power to heal them in, and by that instruinent. It had also this further use implied in it, to admonish the Jews how to conduct themselves upon other occa- sions, where a like mysterious trial should oc- cur, vz. to comply with all God’s positive ap- pointments without any reluctance, even though the reason of such an injunction should not be discoverable by them. For the chusing this image, which had no inherent virtue in it, ra- ther than any other, was the mere will of God, THE BOOK ‘OF WISDOM:" who can ‘makex things evidently.of..no;impngy tance im themselves, effectual.to whatqpusporgy, he pleases, as might. be-proved from.manyide ther instances in Scripture. | dv) 1G, ga ’ Ver. 7. For he that turned. himself. ‘owenplesily was not saved by the thing that he. sow.}s}, Dy mere beholding it did not alone confer there. nefit of a cure ; nor could it; thoublrfixedcian. public view,. effect a single recovery, :byiany natural operation: God did not order it tore erected on‘any such account ; nor was: Moses induced to make this image from any ocoult skill, or persuasion that he had, that the.effiJ gies of this brazen serpent ‘could heal the'le raclites by any power of art or nature ;- forthe very matter of this serpent has been though, rather inconvenient and improper for such aq effect. Nor can we find, says a learned» wajs ter, an instance or example of any ¢elesmte thyg was ever known to'cnre a disease by-anly: lgogd, ing upon it; but, in all wounds by Venomoyd serpents, the cure was effected bya localiags plication of some proper remedy to the/partafé fected. More’s Mystery of Godliness, puagoy What therefore was the intent-of elevatings¢hiy image upon a pole, and why must.the dicensé look towards it, and the healing virtue-be:eahe veyed through their eyes ? Undoubtedty tli appointment, besides the exercising’ the: fai of the beholder upon -this occasion, ‘had 34g: ference to the mystery of Christ, whose view tory over the old serpent, the grand -eneiny-@f mankind, was hereby typified and representedé Many of the ancients are of the same. opiniony: and imagine this serpent to be an emblem ofthe! cross, and a symbol, or sign of that salvationid terwards to be effected by it. But Justin Marty# is more particular, for he adds, that this -ser® pent was likewise made in the very form-of# cross, Apol. 2. It is certain our Saviour,ifit his discourse with Nicodemus, explains it‘of himself, and his cross, John iii. 14. and-chdsé this figure for the instruction and information of the Jews, who always acknowledged a my*; stery couched under this serpent. entre: Ibid. But by thee that art the Saviour of oli} Tir warlor owlipa. This, 1 think, relates to: the’ adyoc, See NOte, on ver. 12. and comprises more than his bare healing the Israelites of this: plague. The word £efip, or Saviour, here’ used; adinits of several acceptations, 1. He' maybe called a Saviour, that saves the: life-of his ene«’ my in the field; but he that thus savethane’ ther, commonly doth it upon a prospeét? of! some advantage to himself, cither of selling the Guap. XVI. poor-captive, or of making: him his slave, which samething abates his glory. .£. The. word Ship not only signifies. one that preserves the life of another, but also.one that is the restorer of,some happy condition which was lost; and thus the Roman, orator explains it, gui amissam salulem dut. in Verrem, lib. ii. Now all the happiness which such a Saviour, or deliverer, could confer, -was but a temporal happiness, which is likewise a lessening of it. 3. The judges of Israel, who delivered their country trom the yoke of Midian, the Syrians, or the Philistines, are, by Nehemiah, called ffigse, ch. ix.:97. But then these saviours saved but one country, or perhaps city, as Camillus did Rome, for which he was styled 4ef#p, a saviour. But all these characters come very short of 6 Rlig-worlor, which is a title too great.to be ap- plied to any less than a divine person; for the, person here meant was far more glorious than any. single hero, or all those judges of old together,; He it was that smote all the first- born, of the Egyptians, that brought the Israel- ites out; of Egypt, that rescued them from their reatest bondage, that overthrew Pharaoh and Fee hertantie Red Sea, that led them in the wilderness, protected and sustained them there, and: at,last..gave them possession of Canaan. But. even this deliverance was but a type of a reater, designed for them by him, and that rebate but an earnest of a better country, in- tended for all true Israelites. See Dr Gale’s Serm. Disc. 14. With great propriety, there- fore, this Saviour is described in the next verse asan.almighty Redeemer, 6 fuoperag ix warléc xaxw. Which expression of our author is agreeable to the;sentiments of the ancient Jewish writers, and is founded on the very high notions which the Jews entertained of their great goe/, or de- liverer, Ver. 9. For them the bitings of grasshoppers and flies killed.) ‘This writer seems to intimate that the locusts, for so { understand grasshop- rs, and so they are called, Judges vii. 12. Psal Ixxviil. 46. killed numbers of the Egyp- tians. This, if it be not strictly according to truth,. very. probably arose from too literal. an acceptation of Exod. x. 17. “ Entreat the Lord that:he may take away from me this death on- ly,” which may admit of another and fair in- terpretation, without supposing that the locusts killed any persons directly, as the hail did: for the locusts destroying the supports of life, by eating.up the corn when ready for the sic- kle, and consuming all before them within the THE -ROGK OF WISDOM. 181 space of a few hours, may, by consequence, in bringing a famine, be said to kill the people; in which respect Pharaoh might properly calt then, deadly locusts. And thus Bochart, * Lo- cust homines & bruta occidunt, saltem ex consequenti, quod aiunt, quia consumprtis ilis quae fuissent vite subsidio, sic ad mortem eos adigunt,” vol. iii. p. 463. Pliny’s account of them is really dreadful, “ In India trium pe- dum longitudine esse traduntur, Deorum lr pestis ea intelligitur. Namque grandiores cer- nuntur, & tanto volant pennarum stridore, ut alize alites credantur; solemque obumbrant, sollicité suspectantibus populis ne suas operiant terras, sufficiunt quippe vires. Et tanquam param sit maria transisse, immensos tractus permeant, diraque messibus contegunt- nube, multa contactu adurentes, omnia vero morsu erodentes.” Nat. Hist. lib. xi. De Locust. c. 29. Sce also Aristot. Hist. Anim. lib. v. c. 23. Boch. Hieroz. lib. iv. c. 5. Bacon’s, Natural History, Century x. Agreeable to this. ac- count of Pliny, is that of a learned modern writer, who says, ‘* That the number of locusts he saw in Barbary, in the years 1724 and 1725, is beyond expression ; that in the heat of the day they formed themselves into large bodies, appeared like a succession of clouds, and dark- ened the sun ; that they, marched directly for- ward, climbed over trees, walls, houses, eat up every plant in their way, and let nothing es- cape them. That the inhabitants, to stop their progress, made trenches all over their fields and gardens, and filled them with water, or else placing in a row great quantities of heath, stub- ble, and such like combustible matter, they set them on fire upon the approach of the locusts, but all to no purpose.” Shaw’s Travels, page 256, 257. In the description of this plague, Exod. x. 5. it is said, that “ they shall cover the face of the earth,” where the Chaldee para- phrase reads, “ they shall hide the face of the sun from the earth.” But L should deserved- ly be thought wanting, in the respect due to the canonical Scriptures, if I should pass over, in silence, that beautiful description of the plague of locusts in the second chapter of Joel, for there cannot be a greater, or more lively in- stance of the Aypotyposis ; the prophet, in the chapter referred to, represents the desolation occasioned by these creatures, whose tecth he calls the teeth of tons, like the ravaging of a country, or the storming of a city by an army, which description is the more remarkable, be- cause the analogy is carried on throughout so 182 proptfly‘and naturally, “In. the ‘regularkty of théir‘march, eating up the-provision,' burning: the country, scaling of the! walls, running about through the conquered city, breaking into houses, and the general horror of the inhabit- ants, that, says a learned author, if one would hive described the outrages of an’ army’ with- ofit a metaphor, it could hardly have beei done in-more proper terms.” Seé Nicols ‘Confer. Patt LV. sp. 159: Ibid. And flies hilled——for they were worthy to be punished by such.) i. e. says Bochart, they sorely wounded them, and then sucked their blood till they killed them. And in this sense many: commentators understand those words, Exod. viti. 24. “ The land was corrupted,” or, as the margin has it, “ was destroyed by reason of the swarm of flies ;” to signify that many of the people were poisoned, or stung to death by them. See Pool’s Annotations in loc. and Psal. lxxviii. 45. where the LXX read aziseinw ef¢ av We xuvopyry, % xdlepayw avrvc, as if a particular sort of fly was meant; but the true reading, as I have’ observed on ch. xii. 25. is xowouyar, which includes flies of all sorts, which through their number devoured them, We read of creatures of:this nature so mischievous and deadly, that the Greeks thought fit to have a particular god to deliver them from them, under the title of AZy:- agros, or Myiodes. Pliny, lib. x. c. 28. Selden de Dis Syris syntag. 2. de Baal-zebub. One cannot but perceive, in this punishment’ of the Egyptians, a conformity of it to the sin of that people ; for the noise, tumult, and stinging of these vengeful animals, answered to the passion- ate language and severe blows of the Egyptian taskmasters, and might be designed to revenge that hard treatment. Nor is the justice of God less to be admired in this particular also, that this plague was specially calculated for the pu- nishment of a nice, effeminate, and luxurious péople, no less indulgent to themselves than inhuman to others: For what could be more proper or effectual for humbling the pride and vanity of Egypt, or what a greater mortification to their niceness, than to be thus tormented, and beset ‘every way with shoals of frogs, and swarms of ‘flies and locusts? ‘[Ver. 10. To tneoe ov ctr]irapiinde, is translated, Thy mercy was ever by them; Much beneath the ori- ginal, which implies, “ Thy mercy came forth as against an adversary.”” ‘The word is used in a far different sense in Luke x. 31, 32:]. Our translators, it is observable, insert the word ever, ‘THE. BOOKCOROWISDOM. Caax SAAD not‘confiniiig:God’s mercy, to save edi hadbide faithful children, to this instance! onlydofthjg: goodness.: “And.indeed: the idea: of Gad’s: phy: lanthropy is greatly enlarged by understanding’ these expressions, and that in ver. 12.:in:a moyg, comprehensive: sense, than a mere delive from. the venom of serpents. © 9) * + ido sngy. Ver. 12. But it was thy word, O Lord;\ whigh. healeth all things.] ‘Vhis seems to be spdken-¢f: the very person of the Acyoc, and 1s undoubtedly, taken from Psal. cvii. 20. ‘Azéisest rar Aoyor aly % idcolo avres, “ He sent his word and healed them, and they were saved from their-desttyes tion.” That the Acyer is here meatit, seems Yea. sonable to suppose, because it is certain: hein: flicted the punishment referred to: For in Num; xxi. 5, 6. where it is said that the people muy mured against God, the Chaldee paraphtasg reads, * They murmured against the wordieg the Lord ;” and afterwards it follows, that-t*.9hg word of the Lord sent fiery serpents among sbg. people.” But we learn still more expressly: whe that divine person was whom the: Israelite tempted, or spoke against, from those. wordsf St Paul, 1 Cor. x. 9. “ Neither tempt ye Chrisy as some of them also tempted, and: were stroyed of serpents.”: It is certain, .thenjrthag the Acyes was the person murmurech agaiaat; and that punished them for it. And: it\seamé very probable, from the passage of the Psalmisg before quoted, that it was he that likewisesty red all them that were rightly disposad:fopk cure; and that the brazen serpent was:Alsyss bol of the presence of the Aoyo¢ in wert and of his divine power and goodness .to:teabal that truly turned to him. ‘The Chaldee:pame , phrase on Num. xx. 8. thus understands: it, Jaa quemcunque momorderit serpens, et intuitusfue erit ipsum, tum vivet, modo cor ejus.direcbattt fuerit ad nomen verbi Domini. Et fuitquende mordebat serpens virum, et contemplaret usenet pentem zneunm, et cor ejus-intentum eratiasaes men verbi Domini, vivebat ;” i. e. “ Whom ever a serpent shall bite, he shall be. hesledydf he directs his heart to the name of. the: wondef the Lord: And it came to pass, that when #9 pent bit any man, and he directed his heatty’@ the name of the word of the Lord, hesaccards ingly recovered, and lived.” The like.presencd of the Aoyos upon this occasion of healing,, bas been inferred, by some Jearned men, fromJ)pha lil, 14. see Tenison of Idol. p. 359., It may ah so, according to Calmet, be understood ish farther sense,.viz. of a word of God’s mouth ef*lkis Holy avord.” Of the power-of tlie form- enitdcheabicall bodily diseases, the centurion: in thepoépel’ seems to have been convinced, Matt. viiil)8. ;- for, instead of troubling our Saviour to come to'his house, he says, out of a principle of great faith, “Speak the word only, and thy ser- vant shall be healed.” Of the power of the lat- ter-to heal all the diseases of the soul, to cure those that are broken in heart, and as contain-~ ing a medicine to heal every infirmity and sick- ness, St Austine is to be understood, when he says, ‘ Omnis morbus anime habet in scriptura medicamentum suum.” In Psal. xxxvii. Ner. 13. Thou leadest to the gates of hell, and bringest up again.] We meet with the same thought, and almost the same expression, Tob. xiii.'2. “ He doth scourge, and hath mercy ; he leadeth down to hell, and bringeth up again ; neither’ is there any that can avoid his hand.” The expression, in both places, seems to be ta- ken ‘either from x Sam. ii. 6. or Deut. xxxii. 39. see also Apoc. i. 18. where Christ is said to have the keys of heil and of death. By the an- cients, the place or receptacle of the dead is re- presented as an house that has its doors and gates ; and death, in their language, as the gate OF entratice into Aades; and to die, or to descend into the grave, is to go.down to hades, or to be brought to the gates of death: Accordingly, to live again, is to leave Aades, or to open the gates of death. Agreeable to this notion and periphra- sis; so frequent to be met with in Homer, Vir- gil,’ Theocritus, Euripides, Hesiod, Theognis, &c. is the constant usage of this phrase in the Old Testament and Jewish writers. In the xxuvilith of Job, ver. 17. the expression is very observable, and occurs twice in the same verse, “ Have the gates of death been opened unto thee, or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death ?” By the like phrase the Psalmist de- scribes the afflicted states of such as had been in captivity, and groaned under the severest hard- ships, Psal. cvii. 18. where the expression of our version is again remarkable, and close to the-present purpose, ‘* They were even hard at death’s:door,? which the LXX render, trylicar tue rer uno Te Savare, And when God shews his power in restoring men’ from such an afflicted state, he is then said in Scripture ‘to ‘lift them up from the gates of death,” Psal. ix. 13. Ver, 14..4 man indeed killeth through his ma- lice 5 and the spirit, when it is gone forth, return- eth not ; neither the soul received up,. cometh a- gain.} St Jerom’s Bible, as it is called, reads, “ Homo autem occidit quidem per maliciam THE BOOK OF. WISDOM. ¥83 animam’ suam,”,, which Goverdale’s version fol- lows,:.‘* Man thorow. wickedness slayeth ,hys awne, soule.:”? But. the rendering of the Ge- neva Bible seems preferable,, “ A man, indeed, by-his wickedness, may slay another, but when the spirit is gone forth, it turneth not again; neither.can he call again-the soul that is taken away.” And in this sense almost,all the com- mentators understand the words, vi avanva Quyir axperxpbecar. [But when the Geneva translators render it, “ call again,” one would think they read araxaad for dvaave.] Our version seems to follow a copy which read wk ararve Yuxi @wapaanpbeaca and so indeed the Syriac and Ara- bic interpreters do expressly render the former, “ Spiritus egressus non revertitur, nec redit a- nima que aufertur;” and the latter, “ Egres- susque spiritus non revertitur; neque redit a- nima assumpta.” According to Grotius, the sense is, that a wicked man may indeed kill an- other, but he cannot hurt or destroy the soul.; which, after its separation from the body, being lodged in its proper receptacle, js out of the power of man to injure; making. the sense to be the same with Matt. x. 28. Calmet under- stands it in the same manner, “ homme n’ane- antira pas l’ame lorsque Dieu I’aura reprise a lui ;” i. e. “ Man shall not be able to destroy or annihilate the soul, when God.has taken it again to himself ;” its substance is inaccessible, and beyond the reach of malice and violence. Com. inloc. That after death,and before the day of judgment, the souls of men are reserved in a separate state or region, a -paradise of comfort and rest, or a prison of misery and despair, ac- cording to men’s respective behaviour, was the received doctrine of the synagogue or ancient Jews. But this passage of our author not only favours such an opinion, but seems likewise. to point out the place of this receptacle. [If this remark is founded upon our version, “ received up,” it is a mistake; for aapaanpbdicw does not signify “ received up,” but ‘received from” the person who had it.] It is remarkable, that those words of the Psalmist, “* O.take me not a- way in the midst of my days,” .Psal.,cii. 24. are by Arias Mont. rendered from the Hebrew, “Ne facias me ascendere,”’ i.-e..“* Make me not to ascend,” or to go upwards to..the invisible re- gion of separate and departed souls., It scems ‘also probable, that human souls, : after their se- paration from the. body, are carried by angels ac abs. avroy rorec, Luke xvi. 22. into regions of bliss or misery, as they have respectively deser- ved ; and in that intermediate state have either 784 a ravishing foretaste, and pleasing hope of future happiness, or wait their doom and final sentence with sad torebodings and dreadful apprehen- sions. ‘ [Ver. 15. At the end of this verse something is to be supplied, which is easily understood, viz. * however, the malice of man-may-: easily: be avoided,” but (ver..16.) ‘ -it is not-possible to escape thy hand,” or power. bie My; Ver. 16. lor the ungodly that denied to hnow thee, were scourged by the strength of thine arm ; -with strange rans, hails; and showers were they persecuted, &c.} That proud Pharaoh, who could say to Moses, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord, neither-twill I let Israel go ; at length experienced the severityof thy judgments, being persecuted with storms and tempests beyond all precedent -and example. For hail, and particularly such dreadful, storms of -it as are described in the sacred history, ;was quite unusual and miracu- _tous in those parts of Egypt, where, according to Josephus, Philo, and Pliny, there was no rain. Jlence, with-great judgment, they are said by this writer, to be persecuted with strange rains, nevis aguis, according to the Vulgate, i. e. rains falling at times, or in places where it was not usual and customary. Hence, that lash and ‘ sarcasm in the Psalmist, he gave them hail for rain, Psal. cv. 32. But this observation of new and strange rain is not to. be extended to all parts of Egypt, for in the maritime parts, and those towards Afthiopia, instances of this sort of weather sometimes happen, and where it hap- pened but seldom, or not at all, that want was supplied by the overflowing of the Nile. Thus Philo. Atyurioc v wapadixilar, x.7.0.' * AEgyptus hiemem nescit, hiemalesque tempestates. Hec circa brumam.irroratur parvis rarisque pluviis “i locis duntaxat maritimis, supra Memphim autem nuilas omnino sentit—restagnationes Nili arva satis foecundant, ut Nature de Imbribus /Egy pto providere non sit opus.” De Mose, lib. i. Ibid. With hails and showers were they perse- cuted, that they cuuld not avoid.} Kai yaralas 4 _ EeGpoie Suwxdueres amagaiinrcic. [With hails and storms of rain.] If we retain azapziitroe, which ‘is the reading in most editions, I think it should be rendered, severe, or extreme (see note on ver. 4-) rather than inevitable ; for if the Egyptians could not avoid this plague of hail, but through .it, and the fire mingled with it, were unavcid- ably.to be destroyed, why did God, according to ‘Moses’s account, Exod. ix. 19. direct the ser- vants of Pharaoh to gather their cattle, and all THE BOOK -OF:-WISDOM. Crap. XMI, that they had'in the field into their, houses, what need of this caution and warning, if. theyr doom was fixed, and they could not avoid it? - think therefore this does not relate to .all:the Egyptians, but to such obstinate and . careless ones ainong them, as regarded not the word-f. the Lord, but left their servants and cattle in the field, and these perished by the extreme violenge of the hail ; which is no wonder, since the :hal was of an uncommon bigness. The Comphut. edition reads, yarxlac % oUe core Sraond ever arapallinnc, i.e. they were severely, and without merey, persecuted by these, and at length consumed bj them and the lightning intermixed. , ‘The Vul. gate and Coverdale omit this word in their, . sion, and Calmet, in his Comment. Philo’s,ae- count of this plague agrees with our author, gopac velar, xaralay aoaair % Pabetar. x. 7, as vie vehementes, -plurima &. alte exaggens. ta grando, ventorum confligentium., & .abstip. pentium procellz” (storms of wind, showers.gs. it is rendered in our version,-dimipish the tempor of the idea, and is-too mild a term). ‘f: nuh fragores, fulgetra & tonitrua alterna crebeague, assidua fulmina, longe prodigiosissima, spegi” And a little after, he describes the, copsegy of this storm in much the. same teyms jy paucis animantibus simul exitio fuit, fom: goris rigore, tum gravi lapidatione cadentiy: grandinis, tum etiam ignis consumptigng, 44 Mose, lib. i. It is observable here, ,that.$ of the elements, though contrary and repygnant in their powers and qualities, .werg,jn ¢t racy, and united against this obstinate: the air in the thunder, the water imthe hail the fire in the lightning, which contrast, Mjlin thus beautifully expresses in a few words,:4,? Fierce rain, with lightning mixt, water with fre fia iN In ruin reconciled. Parad. Reg. B. [Ney and this God did to shew that he was-Jegdot universal nature. Laer OW. Ver. 17, 18, 19. For, which is most to'epe. dered at, the fire had more force in the watep {iat quencheth all things—Sometimes the -flame,tte mitigated that it might not burn up the beavtsthat were sent against the ungodly—At anesheg sie it burneth even in the midst. of water, yabpoph power of fire, that it might destroy thei fregeo an unjust land.| One cannot, help ob enmaPs many marvellous qualities; and -effects. 4s fire sent from heaven to punish the Egypuant: I. That it kept .burning, uthough mixed ib rains and hail; and, instead! of bgingsqye 4 by the quantity-of rain-which fell, assign’ expected, it became the more’ viglensiiansy® Caar. XVI. if tHé*water nourished it, and helped to inflame jPS nét unlike, says Calmet, that fire which fell fron ‘Lord, and consumed the’ burnt ‘sacri- fite/'and licked up the wa‘er in the trench, Which the prophet Elijah had ordered to be oured’ upon the altar, and the wood in great abundance, to make the miracle more glorious ahd “unquestionable, 1 Kings xviii, 39, go. 2. That this fire, hail, &c. happened in Egypt, where: such storms were unusual, and spread over the whole country, except the land of ‘Goshen ; whereas other storms of lightning and hail-'generally reach but a little way in com- fison, and fall within a small compass. 3. It mélted not the hail with which it-was mixed. Philo'pives the same account of the lightnings, Sovlec Sie rae xanadnc, x. 7, a. * Vulgo per Grandi- nem in tanta Natura tepugnantia grassantia, tamen nec eam liquabant, nec ab ea extingue- baftur, “sed eadem usque durantia, & sursum deorsuim cursitantia, grandinem incolumem con- setvabant.” De Mose, lib.i. 4. The lightning and ‘hail spared all the cattle and fruits of the Israelites, but destroyed both man and beast, atid very’ herb of the field among the Egyptians. Ligstly, Ie’never burnt, or hurt any of those ‘Béasts that were sent to plague the Egyptians, 46 ‘if/it had ‘sense and reason to know and dis- ake? thein. “Cappellus objects against our thor “for suppesing that the animals, which were'gent in the former plagues, still subsisted it ‘Egypt; for, says he, before the sending of hi ‘lightning and hail, “ Rana, xuriuya, & omnia ‘giifgialcula’ prius in Aigyptios immissa pridem detgnt abducto & extincta.” Cens. in lib. Sap. Sal.’ i. e. the frogs, and flies, and such other animals as infested the Egyptians, before the hail were gone and extinct, which indeed is agreeable to Moses’s account, Exod. viii. 11, 31. Calmet’endeavours to account for this difficulty two ways. 1. That by deasts are meant the lice, ‘ehtchecill might remain upon man and beast un- tduched by the fire, there being no mention of their'ceasing, or being destroyed, in the history ‘OF Moses, as “there is of the frogs and flies. 2. “Phat by ifre, may be meant those occasional ‘fites;-which the Egyptians ‘kindled to drive a- way the flies, &c. which had no effect upon “them; and seemed to have lost all power over thém.’’ But. I think, the first solution: agrees new with the account of the same animals, ‘CH: xixi'24) where-they are described, by this ter, te: be such as walked)in the flames, which sifite not. with’n diminutive and almost invisible “adrmmalcule.. “Nonitees the ‘second remove the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 185 objection ; for artificial fires, or such as are u- sually made to disperse noxious animals, seem not here spoken of, for the context shews that lightning is here meant, or the fire ef Ged from heaven, to take vengeance upon the ungodly. Instead of offering any forced interpretation, 1 must ingenuously acknowledge that our author, in this particular, scems to have exceeded his- torical truth, and to have used a rhetorical ex- aggeration, to make God’s dealing with the E.- gyptians appear more terrible, which may be observed also in his account of manna, and ths Egyptian darkness, in the next chapter, where many additional circumstances are inserted pur- posely designed to raise terror and surprise, and to heighten the description, which are'not to be met with in the account of Moses, or the Psalmist.’ Ibid. For the world fighteth for the righteous.] This is true, whether applied to particular per- sons, as Moses, David, &c. or to whole nations. It is particularly visible in the history ‘of the Jewish nation, which may ‘be considered as a theocracy, and God their king and leader; at different times he commands the several ele- ments in their favour. The air thunders, and his arrows go abroad, to assist Joshua, the con- ductor of his people ; the sun stands still to prolong their victory ; the fire consumes Koraii and his rebellious accomplices; the waters stand on a heap to make a way for his chosen ; the earth.at one time opens her mouth for ven- geance, and at another, her bosom for mercy ; Egypt, at his command, becomes a desolation, and Goshen another paradise. This discretion- ary power (if 1 may be allowed the expression,) in the elements, that are. vague and insensible, and a sort of wisdom to determine when, where, and how to act, and with what degree of vio- lence to discharge themselves, is finely repre- sented in the original, Job xxxvili. 36. which, according te the late accurate translation, runs thus, “ Quis posuit in jactibus vagis sapientiam, aut quis dedit Phenomeno distinctam intelli- gentiam ?” This fine thought, perfectly agree- able to the context, is wholly lost in our verston, nor do the LXX succeed better in their tran- slation, Fis)’ axe yuraikir veacualos coplar, n women xiv txsrunr. Grey’s lib. Job. p. 272. See also Mercer in loc. ; Ver. 20. Instead whereof thou feddest thine own people with angel’s food.) Cailed also am- brosta, ‘ire apEposiag rpopic, ch. xix. 21. See Note on that place.’ We are not hence to jma- gine, that angels eat this sort of food, but it is Aa 186 so called, either to signify its excellency above commen food, or because God gave them manna from the habitation of angels; and thus the Chaldee Paraphrase, on Psal. ‘Ixxviii. under- stands it; or by the ministry of angels, an in- stance of singular honour, and special dignity to the Isiaelites to be attended by such mes- senger: On either, or all these -accounts, it is in the next words, properly called, dread from heaven, and so it ‘is styled Exod. xvi. 4. See Theodoret on Psal. Ixxviti. 23. By St Paul it is called, spiritual meat, 1 Cor. x. 3. and in this sense it is taken by many of the fathers, as an emblem of God’s word, and by others, of the Eucharist in particular, whose saving vir- tue the manner of nourishment, by manna, has been thought mystically to represent ;’ for where- as manna was in substance very small, but yet gave great strength and vigour to the body, it was a proper image of the power of spiritual food, which being invisible, yet gives life and nourishment more truly and perfectly than: gross and solid meats. And thus they ‘interpret the words of Moses, Deut. viii. 3. “ Therefore he fed-thee with manna—that he might teach thee that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth: of the Lord doth man'live.” eet Fle testsuite Ibid. And didst send then from heaven shread prepared without their labour:\ By heaven we-are not here to understand that very place, where the great and glorious presence of God is more immediately manifested; for it is certain the manna descended only from the clouds, and. therefore our Saviour tells the Jews, Muses'vave you not that bread: from heaven, John vi. 32: [But this, I believe, was not spoken by our blessed Saviour to that intent, viz. lest the Jews should mistake in thinking that the manna came from ‘heaven, whereas it'came only from the clouds; but the meaning of it I take to be this: “The bread which Moses gave you (for- merly) was not the heavenly bread; ‘but my Father (now) giveth you the heavenly bread, the true heavenly bread,” of which Moses’s bread was only atype.] It is said to be bread prepared without their labour, because it fell every night round about the habitations of the Israelites, and was ready every morning for their use. Instead of labour to subdue the earth, and rain to make it fruitful, God sent showers of manna, which supplied the place of corn, and was ready prepared for them. And this made: aie ingratitude the ‘greater, because they, at length, despised this heavenly’ “nourishment, THE BOOK OF WISDOM. CHAP, RAY) which they were at no labour or-expehde'aboat: Hence, or from its ‘beihg? ‘thus Always” neatly: says De Muis, and with him agiées' Di Haiti? moiid (see Comment.’ on Psal!'Ixsiit:) {twa called manna, from the Hebrew verb; 'fasptiyg: nah, vihich signifies to prepare ‘ot mukeyed; The common etymology’ of marina “he éogt demns, as if it was so called from the Israelites doubting about, and examining what it was Hf though j man, in the Chaldee and Syviatiihay have such a sense, yctit has not in the Hebrew, which was the language of the Israelites!’ a4¢ therefore he blames Josephus, who'was'a ‘few! for so understanding and explaining it:-Tng LXX use the same periphrasis, and render 4); TeT0: ¥ p never zi iv, to which pete ee lish version of the place.- Ta CLINT Ibid. Able to content ecery man’s dehghi, ang | agreeing to’ecery taste.| Dr Grabe thing isxvorle, as the-common editions have it, shot be isxorla, habentem, which is’ confirmed By te old Latin translations. ‘Proleg. tom. ult! pap {Which is explained'by the riext 'senteacl}ddhpe ed to every taste. » Query, Whether! ladies | not here signify taste, relish, as, I think,W7aee somewhere in Job.] | Thé Jewish doctftso¥ ancient tradition, maintain, ‘that ‘manne ada it all manner of pleasant and>aptebable tas according to men’s different’ palates! *atrd! aH 4h relish ‘that could be desited: ini any food? bung? complete epitome of every ‘thing hice and! deh cate. The Syriac renders it,’ “Panéit‘om dulcedine suaviorem, cunctisque sapotitts jd cundiorem.” ‘But the scripture’ does'fiét’ to represent manria as having ‘any high Gow? hor have we any hint from ae its being so variously delightsome:to the ‘palatt as the author of this book seems to sug pest. ' See Shuckford’s Connec. vol. iii. p. 10. This Hdtion: of manna accomniodating itself in'so yreat® variety to the several palates.of those thareatit’ © is most probably a rabbinical conceit; Test" Israelites beitig confined to ‘one sort ‘of f00d; always of the same taste, for 80 many yéa gether, should seei to be treated with hardstip? - It plainly appears from ‘the ‘books ‘of ‘Exéd and Numbers, that manna,’ however’ déliciott} was’ but of one taste, likewafers' made? witti Hd" ney, Exod. xvi. 31. and it appears yet more fully’ from their bold and ‘presuYiptuous ‘comp about it, calling it in’ scorn, dry meat, Nit xi. 16, for which no pretente or ground cat? 0 conceived, if manna had alld that ovantiety WP agreeable tastes, which hasibebnraseribed wR! by some Jewish writers: ‘Ouiwhat ocedstoh wae - Cusp. XVL there, for-theit still. requiring Resucla rats Luyeis edjrous. as the’ LXX render Psal. Ixxviti. 18. meat for theirsouls,.i..€..to feed’ their fancies and lusts, tf.this alone was so complete, as to include every relish, and.satisfy every desire. Wer. 24. For thy sustenance declared thy sweet- ness unto thy children.| i. e. The manna, the sustenance which thou signees for thy people, as;it tasted when newly fallen like honey, so was it hoth .an. instance, and an emblem of thy. tenderslove and kindness for them. Some of the ancient fathers read. here, thy substance, in- stead.of thy sustenance, understanding by it the asyess Thus “ Fulgentius, Substantiam enim tuam,.&.dulcedinem tuam quam in filios habes, ‘ostendebas,” which is the very reading of St Je- rom’s Bible, as it is called, and urges this pas- sage to, prove the consubstantiality of the acyor, who was that living bread that came down’ from heaven.) Arrian, Object. Discus. Nazianz. Orat. 49. and .in. this sense Philo expounds manna, calling it, civ wpecCuralor rar. GYlay adyor. Huetius also.,.understands .it. in the .same manner, Demanst. Evang. p. 624. Edit. Paris. And it must.be canfessed that: they:. are countenanced herein by, the Vulgate, which renders, “ Sub; stantia enim, tua.dulcedinem tuam ostendebat. ;” and, by the.Greek; which reads, uzésasis ev; and by, the Avabic version, which has,“ Figura tua dulcedinem tuam prebuit liberis tuis,” thy image conimunicated thy; sweetness to thy children. The.cammentators in: general understand it .in the fixst.sense, of that nourishment which came down from heaven, which was a repeated evi- dence, -and-a.proof always new of God’s.-good- ness.to his chosen: Dr Grabe. places aésa%iin the text, to denote, I suppose, the’ mariner - of the:falling, or dropping of the manna. ~Ubid.. And serving to the appetite of the eater, woud itself’ to every. man’s liking.| .Ty %t re agorpepouins iwMuuia vanpilor, wpog @ ric éCuatlo Bélsxsprazvo. . Calmet says, that the literal render- ing of the Greek is,.“*. Obeying the will of him that gave it,” Descelui. qui la donnoit, it chang: ¢diitself xinto. that which. every .man : desired.. Comm. inloc. {[But-this is quite wrong. Our Yersion; is. very.good. .Calmet seems not to have understood. this signification of wpsrgiger Sau. | The joining Of Uanpdlar to umdsaoi, OF azesaéic, as Grabe has it,, may seem harshiand unusual-; but this is accor(ing.to the .Attick. dialect, which joins sometimesia feminine substantive, sand. mascu- line adjective..i [Yeangijév is not to be joined to umésaex,: but: agrees ‘with: ago, ver. 20. ‘The place should be distinguished thus : ‘Apuénor yev- THE BOOE OF WISDOM. 187 ow’ (npiv yo ~ Urosagig—-i¢ pavice) TH x —yansdoy, weee, &c. This author is not an Attick writer, but a downright Alexandrian. He seems to have been a much more pious and good man, than skilful writer or good Grecian.] ‘there may be three senses given of this place; the first opinion is, that the manna changed its taste. according to the will and desire of those that used it, which is the common acceptation, and is the sense of the Syriac-and Arabick versions, the latter reads, “ Ejusque sapor immutabatur apud eum cui offerebatur, & subministzabal ei summum ap- petitds sui, in qualibuscungue saporibus exop- tasset.” But this being mentioned in the fore- going verse, seems needicss to be repeated by the author. The second sense therefore is, that the quantity of it served, or was according to the appetite of the eater, being ordered and appoint- ed to be gathered by every man according to his eating, and.in proportion to the largeness of his family: Or the meaning may be, according to others, that the manna suited itself only to the appetite and.taste of every good and thank- ful eater, but had none of that agreeable variety in it to a wicked and profane one. And this is thought, by learned men, to be the meaning of St Austin, where he says, “ In primo populo unicuique manna secundum propriam volun- tatemin ore sapiebat,” Epist. 118.7. e. as Mr Mede expounds it, the manna was unto every man’s taste, according unto his will, or as he was in- clined and disposed, B. I. Disc. 46. Fagius in Num. c. xi. Lyra, from rabbinical tradition says, that it. had the taste of any sort of fish or fowl according to the wish of him that eat it, but then with St Austin he restrains the privilege of finding in the manna the taste of what they most loved to the righteous, or God’s faithful servants only ; with respect to all others it admitted of no alteration, and some have.asserted that to a wicked, as being a vitious taste, it was quite in- sipid. The reasoning of the same learned father against manna having all sorts of tastes indiffe- rently to all is very strong: “ To what purpose did the Israelites murmur against God, and his servant Moses, for want of meat, and their Egyp- tian food in the wilderness? Might they not have found the taste-of what they wanted and desired in the manna, if indeed it .changed its nature. according to the wish-and hiking of the eater?” and therefore he confines this miracul- ous alteration to the good and obedient only, Retractat. lib. ii. c.g. & 20. From this sup. posed quality in the manna, Mr Mede runs the parallel between it and the eucharist, which may 2 158. be considered: as spiritual manna, that.as there Were unworthy receivers of uthe: manna in the wilderness, .to..whom the manna was merely such, without any alteration,’ so this acts diffe- rently wpon the:souls of men; in wicked ones, it. produces no. change for the better, no im- provement . orfaddition:of good qualities, but upom:.the well-disposed..it has most excellent eects, administers. great comfort to them, and an inward satisfaction, far beyond any sensible sweetness, according as the Holy Spirit, which is the dispenser of all graces, sees it most needful for men’s spiritual exigencies, either to strengthen thém in.their weakness, or to enlighten them im‘their doubts, or to forward their progress in the ways.of godliness, in loc. citat. Messieurs du Port Royal, have the same reflexion. Comment. in loc. : Ver. 22,23. But snow and ice endured the fire, and melted not, that they might knuw that fire burning in the hail, and sparkling { blazing | in the vain, did destroy the fruits of the enemtes—But this again did even forget his own strength, that the. righteous might be nourished.) Manna is here called snow and ice, from its likeness, says Calmet, to the hoar -frost, or: drops of dew fro- zen, ta which Moses compares it,. Exod. xvi. 14. and from its soluble quality of melting in the'sun, and turning to water, as snow and ice does, hence called, am icy kind of heavenly meat, ch. xix. 21. of a’ nature apt to melt, which the Vulgate renders, “ Que facile dis- solvebatur sicut ‘glacies.” A comparison is car- ried:on here between the effect of the lightning mixed with hail upon the fruits of the Egyp- tians, and that of the fire upon the manna of the Israelites ; that as the former burnt intensely and unusually for the destruction of their trees and plants, so the ‘latter lost, or, as.the author elegantly. expresses it, purposely forgot its own strength, for the others preservation and nou- rishment. Hence the Israelites might easily perceive the hand of God against their enemies, and his interposition in their favour, when hghtning, even under all the disadvantages of being mixed with rain and:hail, could occasion such a desolation, as if its violence was rather increased than abated ; and the fire itself, tho’ in its full strength, could not dissolve the food appointed for their nourishment, though natu- rally disposed to melt. Fer. 23. Again; Nor, “ on the contra- sy, on the other side,” as aaraaw js rightly translated, ch. xix. vz. See upon xiii. 8. It would haye been clearer thus: T avra (for rs70) THE BOOK OF WISDOM.:-” Cir. MVD tl Se wan, ive rounder Sines; Tae Wias dareancas dat. imaeaio9a:, which the construction’ will-natrdgs mit of,) Suveuewr. Which is ‘the: reading weg the best copies, except ravra for r¥ro < Dranslay ted thus—‘ of the enemies; and thatothesame fire, on the other hand, did forget-even its:owy power,” &c.] - he Ob Stig Ver. 24. For the creature that serceth thee, who art the maker, increuseth his strength againsg the unrighteous for their punishment, and abateth his strength for the benefit of such as put-theip trust in thee.) [Eaiendizs 4 avitias; properly, “ig stretched out and slackened.” ‘Che metaphorig taken from the strings of a musical instrumeng or bow, which are screwed up, or let downyrag there is occasion.] ‘Ihe author here speaks:ef the same creature which. he treated of :in :the precedent verses, viz. the element of fire, which was fiercer and more powertul in the wate; when it was ordered to afflict the Egyptiuns, but abated its fury to contribute to the:good:aed advantage of the Israelites. This obedicnaesef fire to the will of its Maker, appeared: semarks ably in the double effect of the: fiery. :fuptece, which lost its power over those ‘saints that were in it to such a degree, that even “thossmelbef the fire had not passed upon them 3” andoyes; through its exceeding fierceness, slew those,that were without it, as if it acted wheré it: wag nah, . increasing its strength against the » unrighteous for their punishment, and abating ats: swrengt for the benefit of such as put):theia; trosdiin God, Dan. iii. We may also understand: this place in a larger sense, viz. thatthe whaleenee ation serveth its maker, and thus:xf/cmods used) Rom. vill. 22. In which sense it.showhb be‘hikes wise taken in the three foregoing. -verses'z sth , Wall in loc. And indeed some'of ‘the did-vet sions plainly favour this general meafiing... Phe Syriac, in particular, renders here, #.Tibiemd tota creatura tua subjecta est ;” amd Gu ilerém’s Bible, as. it is called, renders,“ Onsnia-ransie’ gurata gratie tue deserviebant,’’. which Cover dale’s translation follows.. Andvindeedsthesolt servation is equally true of the.other etemegm all of which wait upon God, and follow:hibap? . pointment, either for mercy or judgmenty anit when the creatures do exceed their nabuwal pow! ers, it is by the will and particular diréctiba of their Creator ; for inanimate beings. have: certaia fixed and general laws of. their creation, :wbich of themselves they cannot) passs: Heace: the Psalmist, speaking of those things: which: 2 often the causes of great. calamities in the wordy says, “ Fire and hail, snow and vapours; 3 Char. XVI. and ‘storms, fulfil. his word or pleasure,” Psal. ctlviiza$/tv/Philo,: in his description of-the E- gy puad plagues, observes “of all the elements, what our author does of fire in particular, that Godmakes..use of them occasionally, as his in- straments,'to:destroy a guilty land ; at one time he employs them for the production of things, or the preservation of persons ; and at another, the very same: are made scourges and messen- gers:of vengeance, Ta saxca re warloc, yi, ¥ vdwp, % ap, % aup émfide'lar,x. 7.2. ‘ Elementa uni- versi, terra, aqua, aer, igmis, ex quibus mundus constat, de sententia Dei opt max. infesta ad evastandam impiorum regionem inferuntur, im- perium, potentiamque qua Deus utitur, osten- dentia ; qui quidem eadem salutariter ad rerum procreationem temperet, et cum commodum est, adimpiorum exitium convertat.” De Vita Mosis; lib. i. iWMer25. Therefore even then, was it altered into all. fashions, and was obedient to thy grace that nourishelh all things, according tu the desire of themithat had need.) i. e. says Calmet, the fire {o obey the order of its Maker, and to fulfil the designs of his providence, was variously altered, and acted. not only in a different but contrary Tanner... It destroyed the fruits of the Egyp- tians, and it spared those .of the Hebrews, in Egypt3 it burnt ever in water; in the wil- derness..it seemed to have little or no power at all; and affected. not even that which was of a nature-apt to melt. And herein it acted in obe- dience to.God’s mercy, for so he understands grace here, as Vatablus likewise does, rendering here“ benignitati tuz ;” which, as it takes care of mankind in general, so in particular it provides for thé wants and necessities of the good and faithful, according as they ask or need it, apie rir piir Seoutvar Séacau, “* pro indigentium voto,” says the Arabic.: Junius renders very unaccountably, ad voluptatem gentium ;” but undoubtedly this is a mistake ; the true reading there, I suppose, was, but corrupted by some accident, “ Ad vo. Juntatem indigenttum.” According to other expositors, manna is here meant, which was al- tered. into all. fashions or tastes,- agreeably ito the desire of the users in general, or such inpar- ticular who eat it with faith and thanksgiving ; in which sense they understand zar deouérwy'in the original, and. the marginal reading seems to fa- vourit. ‘This, though exactly the seuse.of the: 2oth.and 24st verses, and so seemingly not ne- cessary to be repeated here, iy yet communi-. cated by the ancient versions, particularly the Arabic, which reads, “ Propterea conum tuum THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 18g in rem quamlibet.tunc immutabatur, et in omni cibo pro indigentium voto subserviebat.. It is observable, first, that Supt, in- the origia- ‘al, is here rendered gift, and not grace,.as our translators have it, i. e. the gift of manna, call- ed here, by way of excellence, and its extensive use, warrércopes. 2dly, It is probable: that the Syriac and Arabic interpreters followed different copies from the present, or however differently pointed, for both of them have Spee .in the _no- minative case. If this, indeed, was the true reading, it would answer to the same thought and expression a little above, ver. 21.°-Ti taduplx vrnglor, but there seems no necessity to:alter the present reading of the Greek, for xfic. may ‘be understood of fire, and tope« of manna. . And fire, which in one verse serveth the maker, may in another be properly enough said to be sub- ‘ servient to the gift, i.e. to the preparation of the manna, by God’s appointment, and be seemingly altered in its qualities with regard: toit. I take the whole, from the rgth verse to the end of the chapter, to be one continued re- flection on the circumstance mentioned ver. 27. that manna endured the fire in all methods of preparing and dressing it by fire, and yet e- vaporated with the heat of the. morning sun. oniy. If, indeed, by «Jcu, ver. 24. we-under- stand the creation, we may then take this- place. too in a more general sense ; viz. that because the Egyptians, Greeks, and:other nations, had. a conceit that there were some gods of the earth, others of the air, some that ruled the fire, and others the water, therefore the true God altered the elements into all fashions.; for. he chastised the Egyptians, not only. by ‘the earth and the sea, but the air thundered, and his lightnings went abroad, that so he might teach them, that he was the sovereign ruler.of the elements, and that the God of Israel was the supreme Lord of. universal nature.. if ar [Ibid. Ti warlelpopw cv Super vanpde.. The. an- cient versions, and the sense suggest a. much bet- ter reading, Ai rere % rors ete war). prlarancvonimm (OF feelocnnoniuirn) 4 ware] coger. oe Seapeot vorngirer, : mpeg THY, &c, Therefore:then also thy all-nourishing gift (manna). was altered into all fashions, and was subservient, according ta the desire of those who had need. }. - Ver. 26. That thy children: might know that it is not the growing of fruits that nourisheth man ; but. that it:is-thy word which preserveth them that pit their trust in thee. Ai ywicac, the creations, t.e. the creatures.] ‘Vhy people Israel were hereby. taught, that it was not the nature of manna, as 190 such; that ‘sustained them,-but thy will, or com- mand, or blessing, which, by that provision, supported them ; for of itself it was of no sub- sistence or continuance, but was corrupted and good for nothing, if kept contrary to God’s command. It was the observance, therefore, of God’s word or direction in all its particulars, and his blessing upon the supply, that was their sup- port so long in the wilderness. Or it may be taken in the same sense with Deut. viii. 3. which Calmet thinks it an imitation of, viz. that as man doth not live by bread alone, so neither does he by ary of the sorts of the fruits of the earth only) for sol understand yerésee ray xapror) but by any thing else that God is pleased to ap- point for his nourishment, and will favour with his blessing. For though the fields should yield no meat, and the earth prove barren and un- fruitful, yet can the Lord supply means, as he did manna to his chosen, to feed suchas rely and depend upon him. The question, therefore, of the murmuring Israelites, ‘‘ Can God prepare a table in the wilderness, or can he give bread, or provide flesh for his people?” Psal. Ixxviii. 20, I. was a wicked distrust of God’s power and providence. .The comment of Messieurs- du Port Royal raises another very useful reflection from; hence, viz. not to depend on any of the ‘creatures, but to rely upon God alone, who uses and governs them, who is so intimately con- cerned in every-material occurrence, that it is neither marriage that introduces persons into the world, nor bread that nourishes them, nor diseases that kill them, nor medicines that cure them, 1. e..independently and of themselves, but the order and will of God only, who makes use of the creatures, in all these cases, as his in- struments, to fulfil his own wise decrees and purposes.» Comm. in loc. Ver. 28. That it might be known that we must prevent the sun to give thee thanks, and at the day-spring pray unto “thee.] he literal mean- ing of this, as it relates to the manna, is, that such among the Israelites as would gather this blessing vouchsafed them from heaven, were o- bliged to prevent the sun rising, lest the heat of.it should melt it; but there is likewise a -beautiful moral couched under it, and a very useful reflection to be drawn from it. For did Almighty God give the Israclites, in his mer- cy, every night a supply of manna, and ap- point it to be gathered very early for the com- fort and sustenance of the whole day, and were they, in duty and gratitude, obliged to be as early in their return of thanks, and to shew forth his glory before the sun rising ? we are THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cat, YD honce instructed to be each morning asieartiat our devotidns, to bless God, as: for ‘his\othee benefits, so particularly for the safetynofighe night past, and the sweet refreshment of belay. ed sleep, and with the Psalinist, **-Rreveltiths night-watches to be ocetpied in-God*s: wera; But there is another very obvious reflection to be made from God’s appointing: & particular time to gather his manna, viz. ‘That-God% blessings are not at our election,’ or 149 Gale choice to have them when we will, ‘but then only may we hope to find them, when we ‘week for them at the time and in the-manner' whieh he appoints. His manna is ready, if we come in time, but if we delay till the sun: arigeypst melteth away and is gone.—God is Veryigei cious, he giveth to all a gathering *time;< 7s ‘ 5 yy be sper pee Tue Arcument.—A further. account of thedt Syptian plagues for their ill usageof thaitn: ‘raelites, particularly the thick darkness. apis, was spread over all the: land. of Egyptifih, three days, excepting the land of Goshen, whett Cyar. XVII. « the Israelites were, which enjoyed the blessing \ of light as usual—A description of the terrors a ofan avu.-conscience, that the Egyptians were -continually haunted with imaginary spectres » and, apparitions, and had no inward quiet, Jrom an apprehension of danger, and mischief from hissing serpents, and fierce beasts, which Seemingly passed before them. FrOR great are thy judgments, and cannot , be expressed; therefore unnurtured souls have erred. 7. e. For want of knowing and considering them, they have erred and miscar- ried ; for the knowledge of them keeps men in their duty. According to Calmet the mean- ing is, ‘* Dreadful are the judgments which thon pourest.out upon the wicked that oppose thy. will ;”? the history of the Egyptian plagues manifestly evinces this, and therefore that peo- ple were greatly mistaken, when, by offending God, and injuring his chosen people, they ex- posed themselves to them, and brought the fierceness of his wrath upon them. Coverdale’s, and. the other ancient English versions render, ‘Therefore men do erre that wy] not be re- fourmed with thy wysdom.” And the marginal reading is to the same effect. ' _, Ver. 2. For when, unrighteous men thought to oppress. the holy. nation, they being shut up in their housesy:the prisaners of durkness.] This plague of darkness :is mentioned first, Psal. cv. 28. where, the rest are enumerated, though the ninth in: erder, according to the Mosaical ac-. count, where the succession of them is strictly preserved, as carrying .in it, says De Muis, a greater degree of terror than any of the rest, as it startled and awaked their guilty consciences, and filled their minds with melancholy and despair, | This darkness was purposely sent at a time-when it might be most perceived, some time,after the close of the night, about. sun- rising.. .fhis is intimated, Exod. x. 23. where the LXX read, Oax tarésn wheig tx rig xolrne avre Tpee.nuépac, i. €. no body rose from his bed for three days, as if it had been a continued night all that. time, which our translators do not fully explain, when they render xe/rn by place. And: thelikeseems intended here by éxeno, xaJaxnei Sites. épego%. The Chaldee paraphrase on the passage above, fixes the precise time when the dark- ness commenced, “ Erunt tenebrie super terram ALgypti\in aurora, at. recedent prius tenebrae noctis.” * Philo’s account is more particular and circumstantial, Aaprpas npepas ong, tamvatac ave- Keira onsres, x. 7.0. * When the day was bright ry THE BOOK: OF WISDOM. Igt and clear, on a sudden came a thick darkness, occasioned, perhaps, by an eclipse of the sun, which lasted longer than usual, or by a collec- tion of very dark clouds, which, by their close- ness and thickness, hindered the rays of the sun from breaking out, so that the day differed no. thing from the night—or rather it might.seem to be a continued night, for the space of three usual days and nights, insomuch that the peo- ple durst not rise from their beds, and sucl.as upon any necessity were called abroad, like blind persons, taking hold of the wall, or something else for their support, they, with, difficulty, found their way out.” De Mose, lib. i. Ibid. And fettered with the bonds of a long night.) It might well seem to be a very long night from the unusual time of its continuance: A darkness of three days, without any ?” Plut. in Problemat. ec Ver. 4. But noises (as of waters ) falling dit sounded about them.) "Hyer xallapoisoarlec, by: whi F we may either understand great and teri noises, for so the comparison, which i¢ includee in the parenthesis, as not being’ in the origins) is frequently understood. Ezek. xlifi.’2. Rew 1, 15.—xiv. 2.—xix. 6. Or screaming and/ii} boding noises may be meant, which, probadlf, is the meaning of Vox Maledictiones, i the B¥- riac version of this place. [He cither found his copy nollapac, imprecatronig, OF some pattie: ciple from the verb nalepaouat, impreeot;' OF . Cuar. XVII. he mistook it for such.] Or lastly, that they were frightened even at the sound of their own yoices, for so the Arabic renders, “ Propriz ip- sorum voces continuo cum strepitu conjuncte perterrebant eos.”’ Ibid. And sud visions appeared unto them with heucy countenances. | bacpala aENAT Or xenon wposw- moe inepari@le. Does not this seem to be tautology ? for what are xa]npi pacnole, or sad visions, but visions with sad or heavy countenances? The Arabic interpreters, as if sensible of this, render, - Phantasmata nequaquam hilaria eum, cujus tristis erat vultus, consumebant.” applying the words to the Egyptians themselves, that they, through fright, had heavy or melancholy and dejected countenances, {They read, derjarpalx aperdi rov xainph wperwres, OF apocwr». And in- stead of irepari%jo, which is rendered conszne- bund, they seem to have found or made some- thing from..the verb aparQo.] The Vulgate reads in like manner, ‘ Persone tristes illis ap- Rarentes payorem illis prastabant.” Caimet un- derstands it in the same sense, “ Ils voyoient paroitredes spectres afireux, qui les remplissoient gncore d@’epouvante.” Budwell’s reading of the Greek, Qarlacpala audi teig xalnpior aw poramers inegpari- Son, seems preferable to thit in the common edi- taons 4s glearer, and may suit either sense. Comm, in.toc., [Teis, I think, cannot stand here (it 1s the reading of Aldus’s edition) unless avray is.to be understood. } bs Ver, 5. No power of the fire might give them light, nether cquld the bright flames of the stars enilure, fo lighten that horrible night. |i. e. The darkness was so thick, that they could not see one anothet, nor attempt any business for want of the necessary help from fire, candle, and the other usual means to convey light, which, upon this occasion, were useless, and lost their power : for the darkness which encompassed Egypt, was not like the common and ordinary darkness, which disappears at the approach of the sun; this began about that time, and hindered its shining, and was so gross with fogs and vapours, that it extinguished the light of the heavenly bodies, which were not to be discerned in the midst of it. Philo’s account agrees with our author’s, and is equally as surprizing and extra- ordinary, Kai yd. Xperwdue mpi 76 piylec, NT Ns *, Ignis quo utimur quotidie, vel aere turbato extinguebatur, vel vincebatur a crassissimis tenebns;—videndi sensu adempto, clterorum aullus erat usus; nam nec. loqui, nec,audire, nec cibis frui licebat, sed triduo illo vehementer fame ‘cruciabantur, nulli yacantes sensui De vita THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Eo3 Mosis,” lib. i, The Hebrew expresses the great- ness of this darkness by a remarkable pleonasm, calling it darkness of obscurity ; but the exag- geration of the LXX is still more observable, who describe it by three words immediately following cne another in the same verse, oxérce, yropes, Sueanx, darkness, thick obscurity, tempes- tuous darkness. If then the force of the sun could not penetrate or overcome that darkness, much less can we imagine the feeble light of the stars to have any effect upon it, which were na- turally either lost as it were in that thick me- dium, or, by God's appointment, they might withdraw their shining ; for even these in their courses attend upon, and fulfil the will of their Creator, Judg. v. 20. Thus, Job xxxviii. 15. it is said in general, that from the wicked their light is withholden, and the same reflexion oc- curs often in this ancient writer, but insch. ix. 7. he particularly mentions, among the judg: ments of God, the withdrawing of ,the light of the stars, he commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars ; a metaphor, inex- pressibly beautiful, which, though spoken upon another cccasion, and ,thought .to allude toi a much more ancient piece of ,history.{see Bishop Sherlock’s Dissert. Ik} is -very..applicable to.the Egyptian darkness ; when,..ta .pursue-the meta- phot, God sealed up the firmament with the signet of the Almighty, and rendered its glories invisible for a determined time. But, if the Egyptians had really no light, it may be asked, how they could then discern the apparitions and specires, Which are mentioned-in, the preceding verses? To this Calmet answers, That it. was by. means of those sudden flashes, which sornetimes darted upon them, and are described in the next verse. Ver. 6. Ouly there appeared unto them a fre hindied of itself very, dreadful. Augpairefe & aurci¢ iver avrovarny wupa pie warns. The usual sense given of this place is, that they bad no other light but what was occasioned by sudden flashes of lightning, which added greatly to their terror, for that faint light served to make the appari- tions visible to them, though nothing else could be distinguished to any purpose. Orthe mean- ing may rather be, and the words of the original seem to favour it, and the sense likewise is im- proved by it, that sudden flashes of fire or light- ning appeared to the Egyptians only, and not to the Israelites, who were free“froim this dark- ness, and the surprizing phenomena atténding it.’ See, ver."21. where the like is said ‘ot the: darkness, that\gver them only was spread ap. Roe TQ} heavy night. In this sense, Junius understands the words, who renders “* apparebat ipsis solum pyra timore plena,” &c. ‘There seems to be the like mistake in our version, Philip. i. 27. “ Only let your conversation be such,” where the ren- dering would be better, ‘ let your conversation be only such, as becometh the gospel of Christ.” But besides this sense, thut the fire appeared Hovey avreie, to the Egyptians only, there is ano- ther sense of the words, which will very well suit with the context, and J-am inclined to prefer, viz, that this fire was in appearance only, zcver tegando, was not real, but imaginary, arising from, and suggested by their fears; which is the rendering of the Bishops Bible, a blaze of fire on a sudden appeared only. Morey, taken in either of these senses, is preferable to that in our version ; but the latter sense Ll like best, for 1 think this, and what follews, to be not so much a description of any real incident, as of fear, arising from the apprehensions of a bad con- science, which suggested imaginary noises and apparitions ; or may we not understand, in a metaphorical sense, by avronarn wupa gibw waipne, an alarmed conscience itself, which accuses, condemns, and punishes? and ewvpa here used, comes nearer this sense, and is more proper than ep, inasmuch as it signifies both fire and fuel; and where it 1s avzoua7n, self-raised, self-kindled, it expresses more still, something like that of our Saviour, a fire that is not quenched; which is very applicable also to an evil conscience. [Mircy tpaire}o is not the position of the words in the Greek, but dpainto 8 aurcic paver AUT OMATH wvya. But if the author had intended this sense, in appearance only, he would, indeed, have placed yiscv before the verb ; but then he would not have made use of the word bapaiyo, which , expresseth too much for that sense! Mércy, in this place, signifies nothing ut. 1 think you wre mistaken as to the passage in Phil. i. 27. For wire, in the beginning of a sentence, has.a very different signification from what belongs to itin the middle of one. So Galat. ii. 10. Mérey, Toy oleyar tye Hinorwoyey, would be wrong tran- slated by, that we should remember ¢he pour only ; which would have been right, had it been placed in the original, ror wlexadr ucver.. And so, in this place to the Philippians; and again, Galat. v. 13. Mcvov, moi tiv tnevoegiav, &c. in all which places, ycrér is elliptical, and is designed to express something of great consequence which follows, in exception to something which went before. ‘Thus in the passage of Galat. v 12. ‘* For, brethren, ye have been called unto hi- TOE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuap. XVE) berty : Mavcy, wa riv inevbeptay, &c. only (take care of one thing) make not this liberty an occasion to the flesh,” &c. And soit is in profane writers too: Arrian. Dissert. Epict. ii. 1. Méror, exédas wos Dwrag Ter cave BI PCKICETIY, &c. Jos. Ant. Jud, lib. iv. c. 8. p. rg9. Edit. Huds. Mere, off uae, &c.] This whole chapter is, undoubtedly, very obscure and diflicult ; and, if it be taken as q description only of the state of the Egyptians during the plague of darkness, I think it inex. plicable in several places. But the author seems to intend (taking occasion from the literal dark. ness in Egypt) a description of spiritual dark. ness, or the state of a bad conscience in general, both invaded with real and reasonable fears, and creating to itself imayinary horrors: in this view, a new light is struck out amidst the thick dark. ness, though hitherto unobserved by any of the interpreters ; nor is the exposition any ways harsh or forced ; and if there was no foundation in the context for understanding it of spiritual darkness, as there certainly is, ver. 11, 12, 13, 21. yet such allegories are very frequent, espe- cially in Origen and Philo ; nor does the wniter of this book seem to be unacquainted with this manner of writing. See ch. xviii. 24. whichis a remarkable instance, among others, of the allegorical strain. Ibid. For being much terrified, they thought the things which they saw to be worse ‘than the sight they saw not.) "Ex Sepelixevo 8% rig-pi Seon. peerng exetvne eens, nysito xape To Prememeree, Our version seems again faulty here, for is this any arguinent of their being much terrified ? Isit not natural for peop!e to think those dangers or ~ evils which they actually see and feel, worse than those which are ata distance, and they | see or know nothing at all of > People that are much terrified, are apt to imagine, and be a- fraid of every thing, not only what they ac tually see, but of their own shadows, and phaa- toms of their own raising ; they are appre hensive that something worse and worse will still happen to them, and frighten themselves most with imaginary dangers: This seems to - be a more just description of fear, which al+ ways forecasteth grievous things, ver. 11. espe cially when it proceeds from a bad conscience 1 think therefore the ‘present rendering :not right. The true sense of the place depends very much upon the right pointing of the Greck. If the comma be placed after sje as all the editions | have seen have it, though otherwise, | suppose, in the copy followed by our translators ; the .sense then seems to be; Cuar. XVII. THE BOOK that being frightened at what they had only an accidental glimpse of, (for the flashes were not strong enough, nor of a continuance sufficient to view and discern things distinctly), they were more afraid of the objects that passed be- fore them, and thought them worse than they were: And thus Calmet, ‘* Etant epouvantez par ces fantames qu’ils ne faisoient qu’ entre- voir, tous ces objets leur en paroissoient encore plus affroyables ;” for a sudden glimpse, a broken. and interrupted view, instead of en- eouraging them, and raising their spirits, ra-. ther increased their terror, and made them ima- gine these objects still amore trightful.. Comm. in loc. But, | think, this passage would be elearer still, and the sense more agreeable to the context, if conjecture might supply the place of authority here, in inserting wi before Prerouere ;, thus aysvro yea Ta wt Breroueve, Which may either mean, that being so much terrified at that imaginary appearance (se. wx) which an evil conscience had raised, they thought such inward unseen disturbances, which-passed within their own breasts, and occasioned such dreadful appearances before them, to be worse than any outward calamities they had experi: enced ; or, that being frighted at such a phan- tastical appearance, they apprehended that something more dreadful, though unseen and unknown, might still happen, and that worse was yet to come. Such an apprehension is the natural and common.effect of fear, which Pliny makes to be more grievous than actual and po- sitive pain, ‘* Parvulum differt patiaris adversa, an expectes :- nisi quod* tamen est dolendi mo- dus, non est timendi,;’’ lib. viii. epist. 18. And Servius is of the same opinion: ‘+ Expectatio poenz gravior est, nam in expectatione & pra- sens metus est, & dolor futurus;.in ipsa au- tem poena solus dolor.’** Ad- Afneid. vi. ver. 614. [The passage above, | believe, should be distinguished thus: Exdeualyueror 8; rig Siwpumerag inane oftwe wysrlo xepw Ta uh Pretoucre. ]- Ver.7. As for the illusions of urt magic, they were down], [Keléxele, they lay useless: i. e. were of no use to them. ] The magicians them- selves were not able to assist them, nor to re- move this. plague of darkness.. ‘Those tricks and cheating artifices, by whicly they used to impose upon the simple, were, at this time, of no service to themselves or others. Learned men are not: generally. agreed, whether the wonders wrought by these magicians were real. miracles, or in appearance only :-‘That they were only so in appearance seems to have been OF WISDOM. 195 the sentiment of the ancient Jewish synagogue, and of the author of this book, who calls them here iuraiSux)z, or illusions; which was also the sentiment of Josephus, Tertullian, Justin Mar- tyr, St Ambrose, and St Jerom. The magi- cians of Egypt always tried, by their enchant- ments, to imitate the real miracles of Moses ; but herein God sufficiently distinguished be- tween them, that whereas he did indeed enable them to produce some effects of a wonderful nature, they were such as contributed rathes to the calamities of Egypt; nor did he give them power afterwards to remove them; they turned the waters into blood, but they could not restore them ; they brought up frogs, but they could not take them away.. That the chief of these magicians were Jannes and Jam- bres is not only the opinion of the Jews, but even of some of: the heathens. Numenius, a Pythagorean philosopher, cited by Eusebius, lib. ix. Praepar. Evang. cap. 8. gives the follow- ing history of them: ‘“* Jannes & Jambres, scribe: rerum sacrarum Atgy ptii, quo tempore Mgypti finibus ejecti Judze: sunt, claruere ; viri omnium judicio rerum magicarum scientia nemini: concedentes; quippe ambo quidem. communi A¢gyptiorum consensu delecti sunt, , qui Museo duci Judzorum, cujus apud Deum potentissima preces erant, sese opponecrent.’? ’ See Usher’s Annals, ad An. Mund. 2513. But: we have-a more sure evidence ; for St Paul not only says, that Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, 2 Tim, iii. 8. but that ‘* their folly was manifest unto all men,” which is equivalent to the expression which follows here, ** Their vaunting in wisdom was reproved with dis-. race.” es Ibid. Their vaunting in wisdom was reproved with disgrace; for they that promised to Wize away terrors and troubles from a sick soul, were sick themselves of fear, worthy to be laughed at.] The wise men of Egypt, and the-magicans are joined together; Gen. xli. S. as if they were synonymous, and they are here deservedly ridi- culed, because, notwithstanding their pretences to wisdom from a knowledge of the magical art, and their skill in the mysteries of divina- tion, to-foresce impending evils, they could not prevent those calamities which they pretended to remove from others, from falling upon them- selves ; for as some of the former plagues which befel the Egyptians, they could neither preserve their own cattle from the murrain, nor them- selves from boils ; so neither could they at this time, by any spell or sorcery, by any power 2 195 over the air, or interest with the demons in it, escape the common calamity of the darkness, and the miseries attending it, which God, (who had permitted these magicians to exert an ex- traordinary power in some few instances, to shew the world, that the devil, with his per- nission, can do great things), now equally in- volved them in, to convince Pharaoh and his people of their vanity in trusting to such im- potent magicians, and of their folly in op- posing that God, who could controul and con- found their power when he pleased. Ver. 9. For though no terrible thing did fear them, yet being scared with beasts that passed by, and hissing of serpents, they died for fear. ] The verb fear is here taken in a very unusual and improper sense ; one would imagine, ac- cording to our version, that the spectres and apparitions were so bold and courageous, as not to be afraid of the Egyptians, instead of their being so much terrified by them, as is above represented: But should we allow that it here signifies to make afraid, as indeed it ought to be rendered, we may next enquire with what propriety it can be said, that no ter- rible thing did make them afraid, when it fol- lows in the very next words, that they were so scared with beasts and hissings of serpents, that they died for fear. Grotius, sensible of this seeming contradiction, expounds the pas- sage thus: “ That if no such terrible things, as sudden flashes of lightning, ghastly spectres and strange apparitions had before affrighted them,” a ~ endiy aures TapaxXare tpober (where ey he observes, has the force of the potential mood, and ragaxade is the very word used before, ver. 3. concerning the apparitions, though other co- pies read ztpajatec, which is still more expressive [and, | think, absolutely necessary]) * yet were there other plagues now to disquiet them ; they were alarmed and persecuted with the hissings of serpents, and the noise of furious beasts, which so affected them, that they were ready to die through fear:’? And in this sense it must be confessed the Arabic interpreters take it, who render, ‘* Etsi nihil eos turbulen- tum territasset, vitiosaruin tamen beiluarum stipationes [reading probably otgedos or oe- giodor] & insectorum sibili propulsatos illos pa- vidosque profligarunt.” And Junius in like manner, ** Etenim = si nihil ipsos_ turbulen- tum conterruerat bestiarum transvectionibus, & reptilium sibilis peribant tremebundi.” Calmet too understands the place of real animals, ‘* that God at this time, permitted THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuap. XVI; serpents, whom they kept in their houses, out of their very great regard to them.” Herod, lib. i. c. 36. Aflian. Hist. Anim. lib, xvii: ¢, 5. ** Or which came into them, pressed with hunger through the tediousness and long con. tinuance of the darkness, to make assaults Up. on them, and attempt to devour them, as 3 just jadgment for paying divine honours to such venomous animals.”? Comm. in loc. This dif ficulty, or seeming contradiction, may he also avoided, by supposing these hissings of ser. pents, and noise of beasts, to be the effect on. ly of a disturbed imagination, and that these imaginary dangers, suggested | by an evil con. science, though no terrible thing, no real ani. mal, no dreadful. monster from without, at this time actually frightened them, had such an ef. fect upon them, that they almost died through fear and apprehension. ‘These. hissings of sert pents in particular, and the noises of other anis mals, God might permit to haunt them, as they had probably offended him by the worship of them, and ile sense of their guilt might now lic heavy upon their consciences, who, in their sad state of darkness, and under an incapacity of attending to, or executing any business; had little else to reflect upon but their own wicked- ness. Such descriptions of fantastical visions and imaginary frights, expressed in tetms of nature and reality, and exhibited, as it were, present to the senscs, are very common to be met with in the best writers, especially -the poets. Euripides abounds with representations of this sort, some beautiful instances, of which Longinus produces from thence in his chapter, Meg? parlacias, Sect. 15. Eurip. in Orest. passim Nor are lively strokes of this nature wanting in , some celebrated pieces of the modern drama: But though such representations are very com- mon among the poets, yet | cannot agree with Cappellus, that this and some other instances in this chapter, are mere poetical fictions, iné vented at random, by this writer, the sport of his fancy only ; for there is nothing in this des- cription so improbable, but what may be sup- posed to have happened to a wicked and dise sturbed imagination ; or, why may we not lastly, understand this place metaphorically, of an evil conscience itself; for xrddanor, which is here rendered Jeust, signifies also an ssect or reptile, and particularly vermes, a worm; may it not then mean here the oxsané in Isaiah and Mark ix. ** that dieth not 2??? And pi ae not the hissings of the serpents, allude to dread? ful apprehensions of devils, and the powers‘éf Chap? XVIL darkness 2° The heathens themselves could des- cribe the’ remorses of the mind by animals enawing the liver, and by furies armed with hissing snakes, Sc. and may not these be con- sidered as figures of the same import in this place ? ; » Ver. 10. They died for fear.) . If we should understand these words strictly, there are in- stances in history to justify the observation. Vopiscus, speaking of unusual thunders, says, ‘* Negari non potest 20 tempore—tantum fuisse tonitruum, ut multi terrore ipso exanimati es- se dicantur.”’ In Vit. Cari. And Pliny, ** cres- cente formidine mors sequebatur,” lib. vii. epist. 27. But [ rather incline to think this an hyperbolical expression, meaning only, that they were ready to die; not unlike that of St Luke, axopvxer ad pibw, xxi. 26. and that of St Matthew, ad gcGu woet rexpoi tyéver}o, ** became as it were dead men,” chap. xxviil. 4. not that they actually died for fear, but were ready to do so; like that too in Homer, Il. 29. where an ancient scholiast remarks, vaepCornds, ayli--re, Zimveverr. Ibid. Denying that they saw the air, which could of no side be avoided.] Here again our translation seems faulty ; for is this any proof of their. consternation, that they denied they saw the air? Is it not rather a proof of their want of veracity? That they denied they saw that, which they could not, as is here expressed, avoid seeing ; but neither is this true, that they could not avoid seeing the air: For do people ina fright see it only, or best; or is a thick dark- ness, the proper medium tosee the air in, which at mid-day we only discern by its effects? Do not, some learned grammarians and etymologists tellus, that it is called «ip, quod aer per se sit obscurus ; and does it not often signify darkness, being synonymous to aepacie, especially in the feminine gender, which I take to be the sense and true acceptation of it in this place; for I conceive the author’s meaning to be, that they “ durst not, or would not look up to, or view the darkness, which could not escape their no- tice, as it was on all sides of them.” Their in- ward terrors were so great, that they refused to mind, or take notice of the outward darkness which surrounded them, as bearing no compari- son, oF proportion to their fright within. [The marginal reading is better, refusing to look upon. He means; keeping their eyes shut, for fear of seeing the real xw%aaa, which were in their ams St puny éxazrucstr. THE BOOK OF WISDOM. - 197 houses. To these real and natural x3aae.and ipre]a, are opposed the 7a repalisn, the prodigious things, viz. the nyo, pacudle, and avreuarn awupa.] The three following verses manifestly relating to an evil conscience, greatly confirm the sense which I have before given of the context. Ver. 11. For wickedness condemned by her own witness, is very timarous; anit, being pressed with conscience, aways forecaste/b grievous things. ] Instead of apeceange, Dr Grabe puts opeeianpe, presumit, which seems properer. Badwell agrees in this conjecture, Proleg. tom. cap. 4. That this observation is true, the history of the lives of the most abandoned sinners, and most wicked tyrants sufficiently evinces; for none have been more subject to this fear, which an evil conscience inwardly suggests, than such as have been placed seemingly in the height of the greatest. temporal security, and for their great- ness and tyranny have been most terrible to others; and yet even these have trembled in company only with themselves, and have been observed to shun retirement, as the reproof of conscience is then most sensible, and its lashes most powerful and affecting. See the account of Dionysius in particular, and the conference between him and Democles, Tuscul. Quest. lib. v. And in another place the same orator finely observes, ‘* Sua quemque fraus, suum facinus, suum scelus, sua audacia de mente ac sanitate deturbat: Hz sunt impiorum furiz, he flam- mz, he faces.” In Pison. And tous when Orestes was much disturbed and agonized for having killed his mother, he acknowledges the cause of his misery to be, m custos, G71 ouveda Say eipyacpivoc, i. e. ** Conscience torments me, for I am convinced I have done very wickedly,” Eu- rip. in Orest. Plutarch supposes, that an evil conscience erects, as it were, a tribunal in a wicked man’s breast; that fright and remorse are his accusers which accuse him ; his judges which condemn him, and his executioners which torment him. De Tranquil. Animi. See Juv. Sat. xiii. Hor. Epist. lib. i. Epist. 1. But-no- thing can exceed Job’s description of the un- easiness of wicked men, ‘* The wicked man tra- velleth with pain all his days : and the number of the years of his tyranny is uncertain ;” for so St Jerom’s Bible, as it is called, reads this sen- tence, “ Et numerus annorum incertus est ty- rannidis ejus.” ‘* A dreadful sound is in his ears, in prosperity the destroyer shall come up- on him: He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword,” chap. xv. 20, 21, 22. But the version 198 before referred to, expresses the terrors of the wicked in this place more strongly, by the men- tion of his inward disquiet, and a suspicion of dangers continually fal:ing upon him: “ Sont- tus terroris semper in auribus illius,“& cum pax sit, ille semper insidias suspicatur ; non credit quod reverti possit de tenebris ad lucem, cir- cumspectans undique gladium.” But the power of an evil conscience, and its dreadful self-re- flection upon every accident and misfortune, is not any where so finely displayed, I think, as in the history of Joseph’s brethren, who even at twenty-three years distance, could not help cry- ing out, when they were imprisoned in Egypt, by Joseph, for spies, “* Truly we are guilty con- cerning our brother—theretore is this evil come upon us,” Gen, xlii. 21. Ver. 12. For fear is nothing else but a be- traying of the succours which reason offereth.] Fear in general, especially any great degree of it, for it is that whiclt is here spoken of, may be defined to be a despair of succour, when a man sees his affairs desperate, and that reason sug- gests no expedients to him, nor application or industry any probable means of a recovery, and emerging from a calamitous estate, he abandons himself to. despondency, and sinks into the deepzst melancholy ; but such a fear as arises from an evil conscience may be defined to be, a great concern of the soul, upon a‘ view of its inward ‘guilt, and an apprehension that it is de- serted of all succour, is sinking into misery, in despair of help, and has not one comfortable glimpse of hope to speak any peace to it. Upon which account it has been wisely observed by some moralists, that there is not such a true coward as a wicked man; that he is suspicious of every thing, but afraid of himself most : That fear in general has the effect ascribed to it by .this writer, that it betrays and indisposes a man from following the wholesome advice which reason offers, that it often deprives men of those helps and succours which might keep dangers off, and hinders them from guarding against many evils, which, by a prudent and timely ap- plication, might have been prevented, seems evident, because fear, when it is sudden and violent, suspends, as it were, for a time, the use of a man’s reason, puts all things in confusion a- bout him; he judges not truly of his present state, and has not resolution or forecast to amend it. The historian, speaking of the Persians, who, in their flight, flung away their weapons of de- fence, adds this very pertinent observation, Ades timor ipsa auxilia reformidat. And Sene- ca, men 1oning how people’s senses are affected anew e THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuan XING) with fear upon great occasions, suclr as earthi quakes, &c. has the following reflection, « Quid mirum est animos inter dolorem & metumdestis tutos aberrasse?”” But I cannot explain:thisiq stronger terms, than by: setting down the dez scription of the fear of the Canaanites, as it og. curs, Josh. v. 1. according to the reading of the LXX, ‘Erzxszv avray ai Strom, 4 nallernayys our, % wx ne auTors DP pornaes whiula are pooway, ‘cil, ae oh Ver. 13. And the expectation fiom within bei less, counteth the ignorance more than the causa. which bringeth the torment.| Vhis passage is more obscure than any in this chapter, or-pers haps in the whole bock. None of the Orientab or English versions give apy light to ¥t, and the “commentators either pass it over, or leave ititi the same obscurity : Our version in particula is so far from delivering the true sense; that dt seems to have none at all... ‘Vhe common reads ing of the Greek, in most editions is, "Evdote ti. Boe nov x wportonix, mretord: royilelon Tir ayrovay’ The wapeysone thy Bocas xiziee, Which our translators. manitestly follow, but give no determinate sense: of the place: According to this reading I take. the meaning to be, “The less the expectatioit, of help, or means to escape is, the more largely it computes, 7. e. magnifies the danger, or ima: gines greater evils will happen through igno rance of the cause that brings the uneasiness2or- torment.” St Chrysostom has.a like reflection upon the sufferings of Job, * Ignorantia.causie: que peenam affert, valde auget calamitatem.”’ —lf we read 74 efywo'x with the Alexandrian. MS, instead of ziv dyroxy, the sense, perhaps. may be, ‘* That the smallest expectation or apprehension arising from fear, computes more, large'y upon future dangers and mischiel¥. than any just reasoning, or well informed wnt derstanding.” Or thus: ‘ That a less degree: of fear reasons more, and determines better: about the nature and true cause of any ‘cala-. mity than a greater, which is attended’ with less presence of mind ;” which seems ’to-be- Grotius’s sense of this place, “ Metus remissiot patitur rationem decernere,” &c. According'to- Calmet the, sense is, “ That a state between. hope and fear, creates to itself more uneasiness. because the ignorance and uncertainty. "the: mind is in of the evils and misfortunes which may happen, keep it in a.continned state. of in- . quietude,.and it is apt, in such a.situation; 0: imagine and represent dangers to itself,. athet. and. greater than they really “are, through ig- norance of its true state, and'for want.of know. ing distinctly what to fear or rely on.” Comm. Casye XVIT: in loc. “St Jerom’s Bible, as it is called, ren- ders, “ Et dum ab intro minor est expectatio, majoremputat potentiam caufie,” &c. And Vatablus, “ Magis reputat implacabilitatem cause (in the margin, numinis) intus residens exigua spes ;” ¢. e. The less hope the mind has, the greater does it suppose the power to be of the cause that inflicts the evil; and, if it ap- proaches to despair, it represents the Deity as implacable. Jn the midst of such a variety of renderings and interpretations, it will be a pleasure if the reader can find any satisfaction, or some new light to clear up the obscurity. Libid. ‘This verse, in the translation and in the original, is perfectly unintelligible. By a very small and usual change, 1 think it may be restored, by reading #zlévor for troy, and ri ayrorg for tiv ayaa: ‘ And the expectation of lesser evils, when it is from within (2 e. when it cometh from the mind or imagination) looketh upon them as greater, through ignorance of the cause which occasioneth the torment.” "Ev3cGer voa, coming from within, i. e. from the imagina- tion: In opposition to ale, from without, or from external and sensible objects. Maetorx (which confirins the plural n7évsr) 1s greater, of greater weight and consequence ; which signification of the word is frequent. So Matth. xii. 41. Kai iby, oacioy Yova ode. And behold a greater than Jonas is here. And vi. 25. Oux? 1 uxt wacir éss tic teopic; “ Is not the life of greater value than the meat which sustains that life?” And so, I believe, itis to be understood in that not- ed line of Hesiod, Mater nuiwv, warjic, ** half is greater (of greater worth ; zo¢ more) than the whole.”’] Ver. 44. But they sleeping the same sleep that night, which was indeed intolerable.| Oi % rr ahurelor orl. vux)e. if we adureles be indeed the true reading, it must be either taken in the ‘sense of our version, or in that of the margin ; in the former sense the Arabic interpreters un- Merstand it, rendering ‘‘ cum occupasset eos nox illa quoe vere tolerari non potest.” And thus zmpotens is used, it must be confessed, as signifying intolerable, by good and approved classic writers. ‘Tully has “ principatus impo- tentissimus,” to the same sense; Philip. V. and Livy, and Quintilian use it in like manner. Or rv advraee may be used in the sense of the mar- gin, to signity a night, wherein they could do nothing. - To apply advvasec in this manner, is a metonymy not unusual ; for as it is no impro- priety to say ‘ impotent poverty,” meaning a person that is poor, and by that means disa- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 158 bled ; “ impotent sickness, or sleep,” meaning persons in those circumstances: so neither 1s there any absurdity in applying it to night or death. In either of these senses may atyraloc be understood, if it be the genuine reading. But Grotius is of a different opinion, and corrects the place thus: OF 88 viv advfoy vuxJa, x. 7a. 1. eC. * that impenetrable night,” meaning that thick and continued darkness which the sight could not penetrate. But if the passage is thought still to want emendation, and I might offer a conjecture among others, | would read, vir alo- rainy tras wxla, de. ‘a night truly infernal,” whict: agrees well with the context. It is ob- servab!e that the author here mentions the I- gyptians as sleeping, and sleeping the sane sleep ; not that they were really so, for their fears would not permit that, but because, like persons asleep, they were in a like state of darkness, could transact and execute nothing, and had like disturbed fancies and wild ima- ginations. Ibid Which came upon them out of the bottom of inevitable hell.) "EE adurare aly muyar imeaherar, It is as difficult to say what aburafos ade is in the Greek, as what évevitable nell is in our version. For are we to understand by hel/, the place strictly so called, and by the darkness which came out of the bottom of it, the darkness of hell beneath, or utter darkness, as the Scripture expresses it? This surely might have been bet- ter rendered intolerable, as adurales is translated above, than inevitable, which carries too harsh an idea with it, expressed so laxly ; and in- deed the Arabic-interpreters render it so, “* Ex intolerabilis inferni crypta adveniens ;” and the bishops, and Geneva Bible, by “ the dungeon of hell which is insupportable.” Or does ¢3nc here mean the region of the dead, which is in- deed an invisible region of ‘darkness, and may justly be said to be inevitable ? Job very em- phatically calls it a ‘* land of darkness, as dark- ness itself, a land of the shadow of death, where the light is as darkness,” chap. x. 22. ‘Advra‘ec applied to zinc, in this sense, may have here a- gain the signification which the margin gives of it before. Jor ans is confessedly a state or region “ wherein man can do nothing ;” it is that night, according to the language of the New ‘Testament, “* wherein no man can work,” John ix. 4. And thus the true Solomon, “© There is no working in the grave whither thou goest,” Eccles. ix. 10. Grotius bere again dislikes adware aly, and reads & advz aby puxor. But besides that the same epithet being repeat- 200 ed so very soon looks suspicious, and which holds equally strong against aviator, is not as much implied in gtx itself? which, according to the etymology of many learned men, is aiduc contracted (see HH. Steph. Gr. Lexie. Leigh’s Crit. Sacr. in voce) the same with the Hebrew Sheol, which signifies a place which is dark and obscure, where nothing can be seen. Probably therefore the true reading inay be either, dunpy aly puxsy, or rather, as ‘Tartarus seems here re- ferred to, bajar ake woxdr, according to Ho- mer’s description upon the same occasion : AX! Badiscr vere xarie ise Bipedor. For as night, in the mythology of the heathens, is fabled to be the daughter of Orcus, and Tar- tarus, and is described by them to be a place Gf darkness and misery, the seat or kingdom of fear, grief, and despair, the author here, by.a metaphor or figure, accommodates and applies the notion of infernal darkness to this Egyptian plague, upon account of its thickness, the hor- ror occasioned by it, the despair accompanying it, and the ghosts and spectres haunting and disturbing it, [The place is, undoubtedly, faulty in the Greek. It instead of riv edvvaoy vx}a, it had been written civ dlumpar, and ix Bal- Viares aby for & aluvere, it would have been intel- ligible. The word aa too seems to be want- ing before viv aziv, as in ver. 17. I do not think that either advvafer or aluvere can be ex- plained from the known use of the word in the Greek tongue.) Ver. 16. So then, whosoever there fell duiwn, was straitly kept, shut up in a prison without iron bars.) EGG tres, te Shores’ Wy ty ie xalazintler, ipye- pato ee Thy asi Sngor epx]ty xalaxaecSec., The mean- ing, according to the commentators, is, that such of the Egyptians as were overtaken by this darkness, were made prisoners, though there Were no other chains that held them than oeipa gu, 2 Pet. ii. 4. the obscurity and darkness which surrounded them. But 1 think more js included in the original than our version ex- presses, viz. that such among the Egyptians, as, curing that darkness, through fear, or by any misfortune, fell down, were disabled from help- ing themselves ; they either could not, or durst not rise, but continued, trae, in the same place and condition, as’ if they had been detained in a prison, or a deep abyss, from whence there was no returning. I would therefore point the ‘Greek ‘thus : xi0 "Sra¢ 86 Vamor’ br fv ine xcloninior ‘Eppygerro, ext Tir dai dngey priv xaJaxreocdes +’ And the ‘version should be,’ “Then, whosoever it was that there fell! he so continued, i, e. was, in the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Chat: Sip same state, kept bound,” ‘&e. This Varait de “Hoc deinde modo, quicunque ander Full illic collapsus, in angustias citra fetrrumcohétys sus, custodiebatur ;” and so Tirinus, “ In €odeft vestigio, quasi in carcere conclusus, ha fa Calmet too understands it in this sense, *# ceux qui y tomberent, qui s’y rencontrerepit! furent obligez de demeurer au: méme endtont Ja nuit les surprit.” Cou:m. in loc, This 'sefi seems confirmed too by what is mentioned’f the next verse, that such as were overtake’ this darkness, wheresoever they were, or ‘what! soever they were about, there were they obi to continue, being laid under an unavoidable necessity, or confinement, SuactauxTer ctrayxnir ; Whe the particle {vs invigorates the expression, “aM denotes a greater intenseness of the darkred And in this sense some interpreters understan the words in Exodus, ch. x. 23. that “Hg rose from his place for three days,” viz. that darkness was so shocking, and the horrot odd! sioned by it so great, that, like persons quite die abled and confounded, they durst not stit’f the place where they were first surprised with i but stood, or sat, or lay, just as the darkneg its coming found them, for the whole tinve bff? continuance. ot Ae [Ver. 17, 18. A pleasing fall. ‘Pubpic. Ibe lieve it should be fusuic, tructus, a course Or cur- rent, for aepivouirs Biz, running violently) sedt not so well consistent with fu§ués; a pleasiny- Falk Just before, instead of Ei, it should ‘be ‘Ea! deinde, then, as ver. 16. And amnxig x)va Wh absonous, or disagreeable sound, not daivec: 2 The Alexandrian MS places # before épyédr > “WAwH shows that it should be read thus: Evre on0)m cugiloy wegi CUPINAL EI xrddyc, 4 bovéwr nxo6 euicende EE | The whole in English thus : “ Then a whistliit wind among the spreading branches, or ame Ous singing of birds, or a course of water'toit violently, or a disagreeable sound of rocks edt! falling) down—made them swoon with féar."}# Ver. 18, 19. Whether it were a whistling dui or @ melodious noise of birds among the spré branches, or a pleasing Jall of water “Hie violently, or a terrible sound of stones cast , or a running that could not be seen ofvshi beasts, or a@ roaring voice of most 'saedge ee beasts, or a rebounding echo ron | the ' Kode mountains: These things made them'to swoon ft Jear.) This is a fine description of the patif ‘of the Egyptians, which’ was’ so- excestive He nothing could stir but it frighted themeIN@ only noises which wete’ really terme dente selves, such as of falling rock’) ‘arid eh hunny Cuar, XVIL of wild and savage beasts, whose very echo must increase their fears, but even such things as had a tendency to lull pain, and sooth uneasiness, such as gentle whispering breezes, purling mur- muting streams, and the sweet ravishing music of the groves ; even these, though agreeable en- tertainments, and which, at another time, would have delighted and charmed the ear, not only lost all their relish, but proved a punishment, and created new torment to them. Almighty at this time indeed sent forth his glo- rious voice in thunder, no wonder that conscious guilt should shrink ; according to that of Seneca, “.Pavescis ad coeli fragorem, & quoties aliquid effulsit, exspiras.” Nat. Quest. 2. 59. But that harmless sounds, or such as usually charm the fancy ; that noises merely imaginary, for of such chiely must we understand this description, should have such an uncommon effect, displays the power of an evil conscience, which takes a- way the poignancy of every enjoyment, and sits brooding mischief and misery to itself. This sort of panic is beautifully described, Levit. xxvi. 36. by God’s “ sending a faintness into their hearts, so that the sound even of a shaken leaf could chase them.” That of Lucan by no means equals it, a Pavet ille fragorem Moterum ventis nemorum. but.that.of the Psalmist is inimitable, ‘Exé ipo- CiOnoar peGor, & ux nr poGoc, Psal. iii. 5. so torment- ing is wickedness, and so timorous an evil con- science. Ver. 21. Over them only was spread an heavy night; an image of that darkness which should af- terwards receive them.] i. e. The Egyptians only were sufferers by this darkness, all without Egypt was light and sunshine.—But something further is here meant ; for the author, under the idea of darkness and a heavy night, intimates that doom and misery which awaited the Egyptians after death. Many of the fathers make this E- Byptian darkness to be an emblem of sin, and ats final misery in another life. For the sinner 4s a voluntary prisoner, and has as many chains about him as he has wilful sins. He is deprived of the light of God’s countenance, and given up ‘ky him to a judicial blindness in this life, which # an.anticipation, says St Austin, of that dark- ness to which he shall afterwards be consigned ; ime wretchedness begins in this life, and is com-. pleted. inthe next. In Psalm. To the same purpose -St Bernard, ‘Deus tantas tenebras _ AERY pliis. immisit, ut ex hac quasi imagine dis- ‘oerent primo tenebras suz conscientize ; secundo, THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Had the 201 tenebras inferni sibi imminentes.” Serm. 72. in Cant. Origen likewise allegorizes this plague of darkness, and says, “ It signified the darkness of mind which the devil had blinded: Pharaoh and his subjects with, who, though they had ex- petienced so many plagues, would not open their eyes to see their lamentable state, nor believe in God to prevent more.” We find the term dark- ness, which is mentioned here, often made use of by the sacred writers to represent /e//, or the place of punishment. See Matth. vii. 12, xxii. ER. XKV..90. 2 Pet. ii. 4,97: Jude6, rq: In this last place the state reserved for the wicked is said to be, 6 Cépoc ru oxéres, dluckness of durk- ness, Where the pleonasm expresses the great in- tenseness of it. Philo calls it, Taglapor % Baby oxdrec.. De Execrat. And the rabbins speak of it in like terms. What our author mentions hére of the future miserable state of the Egyptians after death, is, according to an ancient received notion among the Jews, who accounted such as enjoyed great outward prosperity, God’s special favour- ites; and that spiritual blessings likewise were wrapped up in, and conveyed with their tem- poral ones: On the contrary, they reckoned those accursed, who were overwhelmed with worldly adversities, and that spiritual and ever- lasting plagues were hidden under temporal judgments, which were to those upon whom they fell, so many pledges of their condemna- tion. See Mede, B. I. Disc. 46. This opinion our author seems to have imbibed, and it-is an instance, according to the very judicious Dr Jackson, of that radical tincture which infected all his countrymen, who looked upon the many glorious tokens of God’s extraordinary mercy and loving kindness to their fathers, as sure and irrevocable earnests of their absolute predestina- tion to acceptance, glory, and happiness. And that the Egyptians, Canaanites, and such other of their enemies whom God had scourged, were so many vessels of wrath fitted for perpetual de- struction: Ibid. But yet were they unto themselves more grievous than the darkness.] ‘* Men can never efface, says a fine modern writer, the sense which God has imprinted in their hearts of his- presence and justice. They can never.succeed: in persuading thenselves that sin is in its na- ture indifferent, or will remain unpunished. Hence their inward fears, which are as so ma- ny witnesses’ ready to accuse and confound them: and when vengeance zt Jength cones: to shew f they shall be the first to own that they have deserved it.’ Roliiu vol. iis p. ME Be 202 145. Many beautiful passages might be pro- duced from ancient authors, to shew the me- lancholy state of a guilty conscience, what a bosom plague and inseparable tormentor it is, how tired and afraid of its own reflections, and how gladly it would fly from its very self, but self centinualiy pursues it. St Austin most beautifully represents this uneasiness, and includes the case of all other sinners, in the following description of himself, ‘* Ego mihi remanseram infelix locus, ubi nec esse posse, nec inde recedere. Quod enim cor meum fuge- rete corde meo? Qué a meipso fugerem ? Quod me non sequeror ?”? Confess. lib. iv. ¢. 7. ‘CHA PF. SSVI ‘The Arcument.—TZo the darkness, with which the Egyptians were oppressed, the author op- poses, by way of antithesis, or contrast, the great light which the Israelites were favoured with at the same time, and the great benefit of the fiery pillar, which afterwards conducted them in the wilderness. The death of all the first born of the Egyptians in one moment, without any distinctioi:, by the destroying angel, 1s de- scribed in avery affecting manner ; and, on the other bund, God’s great mercy to the Isra- elites is shewn by a particular instance in the desert, when, through the intercession of Aaron, and the power of bis incense, God was pre- vailed upon to stop the sweeping progress of the plague, and ts hinder its spreading any fur- ther. NE VERTHELESS thy saints hada very great light. All the children of Israel, called here the saints, according to the conceited notion of that people, had light in their dwellings where- by they were enabled to do their business, and yet all things ready for their departure with- out the notice of the Egyptians; much less could they hinder their designs, who were in- volved in such a thick mist, that they were in- capable of seeing what the Israelites were do- ing. The Chaldee paraphrase upon Exod. x. 23, adds other reasons for this light, * Erat tux omnibus filiis Israel ad sepeliendum improbos qui inter eos mortui erant, & ut justi possent in praceptis occupari in habitationibus suis,” This difference and distinction between them, inust be looked upon as the more wonderful and extraordinary ; if, as many learned men suppose, the howses of the Israelites and the Egyptians were contiguous and close to one a- nother, as seeins probable trom the blood sprink- led upon the door posts of the Israelites by way of distinction, because they were mingled with THE BOOK OF. WISDOM. Crt XVMp - the Egyptians. Philo and Josephus both. inti, mate, that in the same place or dwelling, the. Hebrews bad Sight, and the. Egyptians .were:. without it: -this.made the miracle so great, says Gregory Nyssen, that while the Israelites, and the Egyptians dwelt promiscuouslyi tg, gether, the former, at the same time had light, and the latter darkness. From this. strange. work of God, and singular interposition in fa. vour of his chosen, we are instructed how able: our heavenly Father is to make not only a dis.. tinction, but a real separation between his own: children, and the wicked,. when he executeth; his wrath and vengeance ; for such is his pro.: vidential care, that though they be in one: field, in one house, or bed together, one. shall be taken, and the other left ; one shall be.af,. flicted with his:judgments, and the other es, cape them. And we may hence, as. another: pious writer observes, profitably learn, not, to ascribe our preservation to our own merit,or policy, when we ourselves are free from any grievous calamity which happens to others, but: to look up to the almighty Author of our de liverance, and at his footstool to return our - tribute for such a signal instance of his mercy, Ibid. Whose voice they hearing, and not.see- ing their shape, because they also had not suffer- ed the same things, they counted them, happy.) “Or piv ¥ xgnewor imercvbacar, imanapiCor, tnandgdan Thus the Alexandrian and Complutensiaa,¢o- pies read. The sense of this passage is' very different, according as it is applied to, the Israelites or the Egyptians, in which the ipter- preters are greatly divided. They that, apply it to the former make the sense to he, {hat the Israelites heard the cries of the Egyptians Without seeing them, and thanked. God that they did not suffer the same things, and were-th like the Egyptians, in the midst of darkness, ag¢ obscurity ; and thus the Vulgate renders {use gor, * & quia non & ipsi eadem passi crappy . magnificabant te,” [as if he had read éueysquit as], Which Coverdale’s version follows., Qthgits sull applying the words to the same persam render ixaxepilor, that the Israelites blessed them selves, or counted themselves happy,,. bgcawy they also had not suffered the same. thingse: if this passage be applied to the Israelites, shout not the reading rather be % avzci, than Pet The Vatican edition reads, “or pan rc gH! txerevfacay, tuaxapler, which furnishes, angphe sense, That the Israelites thanked God, orgie tified the justice of God, that the Egyp were now afflicted in their turns, .who hadipe fore so much afflicted them. ‘They that apply GHae/ XVI. “the plice'tothe Egyptians, understand it in this manner, ““ ‘That: the Egyptians heard the voi- ces‘of the Israelites;*though they could not’see them; and thought the Israelites happy that they also did not suffer like them.” ‘This seems to sbe.the sense of our version, as it is of the Ge- ‘neva and Bishops Bible, and seems indeed more agreeable to the context. “Ver. 2. But for that they did not hurt them nro, of whom they had been wronged before, they thanked them.) “Orr 8 uv Baarfecs wpondinnucrer, nv- xapisvy. Here, again, the sense has been mistak- en’ by some interpreters, as if the Israelites thanked the Egyptians for not hurting them now, who before had much oppressed and in- jured them ; but there seems no reason or occa- sion for the Israelites to thank the Egyptians ‘for not doing what at.that time, however incli- ned, they were incapacitated todo. There is also‘another sense, which has no better founda- tion, that the Israelites, nuyapiswy, thanked God, that the Egyptians, who before had so much wronged them, were now not in a capacity to’ hurt-them.: And thus Coverdale, “ And they that, were vexed afore (because they were not hurt: now) thanked them ;” and so the Vul- gate,-** Et qui ante lesi erant, quia non lede- bantur, gratias agebant ;” St Jerom’s Bible, as it’ is called, supplies #4: But I think the true sense of the place to be rather, “* That the E- gyptians thanked the Israelites, for not reveng- ing themselves upon them in their state of darkness and impotence, who had provecations enough, and had been so long injured and oppressed by them;” and that the passage might be rendered more intelligibly thus, “ That because they (the Israelites) did nex hurt them now, whom they (the Egyptians) had before hurt or wronged, they thanked them.” This ‘seems to be the sense of our version, though obscurely expressed ; and the Geneva Bible un- -derstands the passage in the same manner. ». [bid.. And besought them pardon, for that they had-been enemies.) Kai ze Sucve Barat xapir Edéorjo. This is capable of two senses, and may either Mhean,' that the Egyptians asked forgiveness of the Israelites. for the many injuries they had formerly done them, which is the sense of our. version, and-of the Geneva Bible ; and:so dizpi- pisda: 1s used, 2 Maccab. iti. 4. Such a submis- sion in the Egyptians, arising rather from fear than a real contrition, is natural enough to be supposed at this melancholy juncture, and might indeed be expected from people.in their sad:and helpless condition, entirely at the mercy THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 203 of those who had been so inhumanly treated by them. In this sense yxpv must be taken adverb- jaily, as it is sometimes, and may be censidered here the same as texx, And thus it is used, Gal. iii. IQ. & voces Tay warabacewy xe par epost) On, i.e. according to our version, ‘ the law was added because of transgressions ;” which seems not much unlike the expression here, r¥ SerexGi- vas xapw t¢orJ0, they beseeched or intreated them, because of their former transgressions and dif- ferences. —There is also another meaning of this passage, ‘* That the Israelites beseeched God, that there always might be such a difference made between his own people and the Egyp- tians, or between them and their other enemies, as there was in this particular instance of the darkness.” See Exod. xi. 7. where the like sense is used. Coverdale renders, according to this. latter interpretation, ‘‘ And besoughte thee (O God) that there myghte be a dyfference ;” and so does the Vulgate, “ Et ut esset differen- tia, donum (zap) petebant.”” * Ver. 3. Justead whereof thou gavest them a burning pillar of frre.) ‘Av? dy augipareyi sunor. The sense of this place, according to most inter- preters, is, that instead of an Egyptian dark- ness, God favoured his people with a light of fire, as it is described by the Psalmist, Peal. Ixxvili. 15, for their assistance in the night sea- son. It is called here a burning pillar of fire, because in the night flames are more visible, by: reason of the darkness; whereas, in the day- time, they appear rather like smoke at any con- siderable distance. See note on ch. x. ver. 17. "avé’ dy, in the original, does not so properly sig- nify, instead whereof, as our version has it, as quamobrem, or propter quod, as the Vulgate renders, which Coverdale’s and the old English versions follow, “ therefore had they a burnynge Pyler ;” or we may understand af’ dr to signify, for whose sake, or upon whose account; and thus Badwell understands it, rendering quorum causa, referring it probably to the Israelites, who, in the preceding verse, had requested that: God would make some difference in their fa- vour; and so the Syriac interpreters seem to take it. Ibid. Both to be a.guide ia the unicnown jour- ney, and an harmless sun to entertain them ho- nourably. | "Has 88 abnaGii Pind]i pars ferileiac, i.e. It was as a2 harmless and inoffensive sun, which, without incommoding them; rendered their.jour- ney safe and prosperous, by affording them: light in it. And thus Calmet, ‘ La colomne de seigneur:leur servoit comme de soleil, qui sans n ~ 204 les incommoder rendoit leur voyage heurevx.” Our version is very faulty in the rendering of the latter part of this verse ; there is nothing.in the original to authorise or justify what is here mentioned about entertaining them honoura- bly ; the true rendering of the Greek 1s, “ God gave them an inoffensive sun in their glorious and honourable march thro’ a strange country.” And indeed this march of the Israelites may be said to be truly honourable and magnificent, being under the guidance and direction of Al- mighty God, who was himself their leader. In this view, it had rather the appearance of a grand and superb triumph, than a tedious and painful journey. And in such august terms the prophets describe it, Psal. Ixviii. 7, 8. Habak. iii. 3.; and I have the pleasure to find the ver- sion which I have given of this place confirmed by the Geneva Bible, which renders, “ And madest the sun that it hurted them not in their honourable journey,” which is the sense of £er- 4éx here ; and so Junius expounds it, ** Prebu- isti columnam.......que & dux esset profectio- nis ignote, et sol innocuus magnificz peregrina- tionis.” Ver. 4. For they were worthy to be deprived of light, and imprisoned in darkness, who had kept thy sons shut up, by whom the uncorrupt light of the law was to be given unto theworld.] Though God communicated his will to the patriarchs, and particularly to Abraham, when he entered into covenant with him; yet had not the Is- yaclites, when in. Egypt, any express know- ledge of the law, as such: This they received after their going out from thence at Mount Si- nai, where God himself promulged it to them in form: ** Which he commanded them to teach their children, that their posterity might know it, and the children which were yet un- born, tothe intent, that, when they came up, they .might shew their children the same,” Psal. Ixxviii. 5, 6, 7. Dent. iv. 9. vi. 7. But this revelation was not designed to be confined to that people only ; God, by their means, and through their hands, intended to give to other nations the knowledge of his laws: ‘* To them pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises,” Rom. ix. 4. But the lively oracles which they received were likewise to be delivered to. others, and: they were the appointed channels; an appointment, which this author here. dwells upon, and mag- nifies as a mark of particular distinction and favour to his.chosen. And indeed from them, THE BOOK:.OF WISDOM: | Carat. XNED other nations did! receive the uncorrupt lightief the law, and the: excelent: and: sacred orkeogl, , of ancient times, and. the. several, prophedidssf those holy men, whom .God' raised bpranttand spired, from time to time, among thaigib their means, in fact, we now conversest; those great. persons, Moses, David; Solomedy’ and others ; and understand and:reap ithe frisige of their wisdom and piety,. by: the whiting conveyed to us from them, throngh the:provia. dence of God; for the Jews, by .their ’auns berless dispersions, were undesignedly.madé@ kind of preachers of righteousness to-as shang as they lived amongst, and convetsed: riwithy : Judea was, from the beginning, as is evidene from the Jewish history, the fountainshearhog | the true religion ; Jerusalem, in particulat} wap the seat of Melchisedec, the high priestjt® the living God in the days of Abraham yithin Almighty had his court and dwelling in: Sienp Psal. Ixxvi. 1. ; and in David’s -timeji known in her palaces as a sure. refuge,’ Bead! xlviii, 2. From hence he sent out his.aasbhas sadors, the prophets, to publisiz. his: laws vands decrees to the world, which learned mea Gavyé! observed could be done with more easedhd speedier conveyance from hence, than-fromian other region of the habitable world..-And roan hence accordingly, as from a central‘ point, the light of the law first, and the gospel afterwardajl shone out to the surrounding nations, »dLifwof King David, vol. ii. p. 92. ri fucy bias Ver. 5. And when they had determined to .skap the babes of the saints, one child being’ cast fortis and saved to reprove them, thou tookedst atvuly.tbe multitude of their children, and destroycdst-them altogether in a mighty water.] Burwedpéregi® eel, res tad ror balay cmoxjavas varie, % trac Exe Qi fog wea] § % aabirloc, ei erxclyer 73 avrar agenw wanbog rexrad: THe was particularly true of Moses, ‘wha, as tewills cast Into the river, with the rest.of the) Hebrew? children, so was he saved from thence ‘te-beithte instrument, by God’s appointment, ‘to thom the Egyptians in the Red Seay by stretching forth his hand over it. The wisdomeand pr! vidence of God is herein very: observabléz. fat! the very exposing of Moses was theofirs stepeid? his. greatness, and the means of his beings duced into Pharaoh’s own palacev: AndiGe saved him from perishing in the civer}cto make! him the instrument of drowning the sod bfahat! prince, who: had designed. him: the: LiWesfate, deed? with him-were overwhelmed the chiefestrohiel subjects, whom he had. obliged: ocdasionadtyh execute his inhuman:and eruel commande" Os OX VAL THE. BOOK Yathers} trpon this! occasion, ‘observe, ‘that Mo- gésy who!was the minister of the old flaw,’ as Je- Sas Christ of|thei new,~was ‘a lively figure of him from his very birth, both of them, through thé divine: protection, being preserved from a massacre; which involved so many infants. The: present: reading of. the Greek text here seems faulty in all'the copies, and probably may,' by a small altération, be thus restored, Burweauiree VY avrigiza ror soior amoxlevas varia, Se trig. ixfebeflog rinre, 3 cellvlog ete tarlyov, 73 avrar apenw e@nites zixvor. -l am encouraged to offer this e- mendation from the authority of the Oriental versionsi: The Arabic reads, Per unum expo- sitam:puerulum, & ad redarguitionem eorum servatum, perdidisti sini clementia multitudi- nem filiorum eorum ;”’ and the Syriac, ‘* Sed fitius:unus sanctus, quiad eos castagandos, & muititadinem filiorum eorum exterminandam asservatus-est, omnes simul in acquis immani- busperdidit.’? “The Geneva version renders in likesthatner, «| By one child that was cast out andi preserved to reprove them, thou hast taken away cthe: multitude of their children ;” and thesDiaeay Bible is to the same effect. bh Mere. -Of that. night were our fathers certif- ed; thatiassuredly knowing unto what oaths they had:gidenteredence, they might afterwards be of gotd cheeri}'‘God had foretold their bondage in Egypty and promised their forefathers that he would. be with them, and bring them up thence, and put them in possession of the land of Ca- ngan.-: Firs oath or promise was made to A- brahim :.‘* Know, (says God to him in vi- sidn,)sthat thy seed shall be a strangerin a land thats‘ not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall affliet them four hundred years ; and alsa that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge, (i, e: pour out my judgments upon,) and afteywatds shall they come out with great sub- Stancd,?} Gen. xv. 13. This fature condition ofitis:deed-in both these respects, was repre- semed'to him at the same time by a smoaking fernece, which signified the Israelites’ misery inthe ‘iron furnace of Egypt,” as it is called, Jeti xi.4. and by a-durning lamp, or a light shining-out of darkness, which denoted their deliverance from thence, Gen. xv. 17. Moses had: likewise acquainted them with the particu- lar‘tine of their going out of Egypt, and that itshowld -be immediately preceded with the death of.all:'the first-born of the Egyptians, Exodyoxivst, 5, xii, 2. Opr author adds, ‘that God revealed this great event to his people, that ‘they might depend upon its certainty, and OF ‘WISDOM. when they saw the actual fulfilling Of this pro- mise, and the first-born destroyed in the man- ner, and at the time he had foretold, they might have the stronger faith, and a more firm reli- ance upon his Word. "Emwbuuhowss, ‘* be of good cheer,” according to our translators; bunt it might more properly be rendered, “ be of good confidence,” or ‘* more assured,” both at. the present and hereafter ; for that night confirm- ed the truth of God’s promises, and encou- raged them to hope and trust in God the more for the future. And thus the phrase is used in many parts of the gospel, particularly Matth. ix. 2. where the Vulgate reads, ‘* Confide, fili,”? and so do Beza and Junius in loc. See al- so ch. xiv. 27. Mark vi. 50. John xvi. 33. Ver. 7. Soof thy people was accepted both the salcation of the righteous, and destruction of the enemes.] This is obscurely expressed ; 1 take the sense to, be, That the Israelites, called. here, and in many places of this book, the righteons, received a very signal deliverance, at the same time that they saw the destruction of the Egyptians, or the wicked, as the Vulgate renders. The same night, which was the be-' ginning, or commencement of the freedom and. happiness of the Hebrews, brought upon : the Egyptians the most terrible of all the plagues they had been afflicted’ with ; they first saw themselves at liberty on a sudden, and the fat.’ ter had all their hopes blasted by the surprising death of all their first-born in the same instant. [Wpecedex9n should be translated ‘* was expect. ed,” as xiv. 29. The deponent Sixoua, with the passive form of the Aor. 1. often has a pas-' Sive signification, and in the future, Ecclus. xxx. 16. See Acts xv. 4. ' - Ver. 8. For wherewith thou didst punish our adversaries, by the same thou didst glorify us whom thou hadst called.] & 3 iviuashow rec Vaevarlive, Tere nuns wporKanreraerog Qelacae. Some copies: read ot, and change 7sre into tree to answer it.” “Andso the Vulgate renders, “ Sicut enim lesisti adver- ' satios, sic & nos provocans magnificasti, [reading | wpoxanccauevoc.| The Arabic, and the old English © versions read in like manner; and so does Ju: nius and St Jerom’s Bible. If we retain 5 and réra in the sense of our translators, then the meaning is, that by the death of their first-born - thou didst punish our enemies, and by a freedom from the same destruction thou didst glorify thy chosen ; for God shewed his love to them, and the very great regard he had for them, in that terrible vengeance which he took of their op- | pressors, in order to their final release: for we ° 205 206 may understand apcrarncxzsicc, says Calmet, to mean recal, that God, by this decisive act of vengeance, recalled or fetched back his people to him, as a father does a son whom he had long. banished from him at a great distance. Comm. in loc. See note on ch. xi. 26. But we may also by 3 and z¢r» here, not only understand the fact itself, but also the person by whom that great event was brought to pass, thus, “ For by whom thou didst punish our adversaries, by the same person passing us over thou didst glorify us.” This interpretation is countenanced by. the Chaldee paraphrase on Exod. xii. 42. “ Ap- paruit Sermo Domini in media nocte contra. Agyptios, dextra ejus interficiebat primogenitos Aigyptiorum, & dextra ejus liberabat primoge- nitos Israelitarum, ad stabiliendum quod dicit Scriptura, Filius meus primogenitus sunt Israe- lite.” This difference, or separation between his own people and the Egyptians, was visible in all the other plagues, but here it was most re- markably displayed. And the like gracious distinction, we may observe almost every where in Scripture, with respect to the righteous and wicked, whether we consider whole nations or particular persons: thus God preserved righte- ous Noah, when the old world perished by water; nor was Lot less distinguished and fa- voured, when Sodom, with the neighbouring cities, were destroyed by fire. Ver. 9. For the righteous children of good men did sacrifice secretly.] i, e. The children of Israel slew the paschal lamb at the time, and in the manner God appointed them, called the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, Exod. xii. 27. and fre- quently by the name of sacrifice only, Exod. xxiii, 18. xxxiv. 25. It appears to have been properly a sacrifice by the rites belonging to it; for in it there was a shedding of blood, and a sprinkling of it by the priests, 2 Chron..xxx. 15, 16, xxxv. 11.13. And this the writer to the Hebrews, speaking of Moses, makes mention of, and assigns the original reason for ; “ by faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born, should touch them,” ch. xi. 28. This lamb at that time the Israelites sacrificed secretly, or within their own houses, marking the posts of their doors with the blood of the victim, that the destroying angel might not enter them to slay their first- born, as he had done in the houses of the Egy p- tians ; and engaged to observe this rite, through- nut their generations, of sacrificing the paschal !amb in memory of their deliverance. Which mystical repast, says Calmet, was a symbol of THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cuar. XV}; their covenant with God, and likewise union among themselves. ; Ibid. And with one consent made a holy law, tho the sants should be like partakers of the ‘sane good and evil.| i. e, At the same time that.the} sacrificed the passover, they unanimously mnie a holy agreement, and entered into covenant, confirmed by the sacrifice, to have but one coms mon interest, that they would share alike the good and the bad which should happen to thems that as they went out of Egypt with one willing mind, so they would equally partake in ‘the common dangers in their march towards the holy land, and afterwards divide the promised inheritance fairly and impartially among them; The Vulgate accordingly reads, “ Justitiz legem in concordia disposuerunt, similiter & bona'& mala recepturos.”’ HH} Ibid. The fathers now singing out the songs of praise.] ‘There are two senses of this passage, according to the different reading of the Greek, The Vatican copy has, waricor mt em poaveusnrern, aives, Which is followed by our version, i. e.° the fathers now sang songs of praise and thanks. giving to God for their deliverance, as if ac: complished: according to Jansenius, wpoxrayerréifor means, that the fathers begun the chorus, ‘and, the rest followed or joined in it. The Alexand/ MS and Complut. edition read, wafépur #n apoai- apénmoriec aitve, Which the Vulgate and Junius follow, i.e. the children of Israel] sang the praiseay or hymns in honour of their great forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom their'de- liverance from bondage was revealed, and the promise of the land of Canaan was made, which they now looked upon themselves as almost im possession of; and being confident of success, and a speedy departure from Egypt, they now, even beforehand, sang hymns and songs of triumph, as if they were actually delivered from it. And thus Calmet, “ Ils chantoient deja par avance ces Cantiques. IIs les chantoient commp etant deja detivrez de la servitude d’Egypte’’ Comm. in loc. In after times, the Jews, at the celebration of the passover, sang the cxiiith: Psalm, with the five next following, which the. Hebrews call by the name of /allel, ‘or, the hymn, which they recited at the table in the paschal night when they had eaten the lamb, concluding always with hallelujah. Maimonides: says the following doxology was never omitted; “ Therefore are we bound ta confess, to praise: to laud, to celebrate, to glorify, to honour, extol, to magnify, afid to ascribe victory, ual him, that did unto our fathers and unto-us all of a stile} Cuar. AVI these signs, and brought us forth from servitude to freedom, from sorrow to joy, and from dark- ness to great light.” See Ainsworth on Exod. xii. 8. [By what follows in the next verse of parents bewailing their children, it is probable that walipur wpouvapermerlar, in ver. 9. is the true reading, Not apoareuiarorjec, as the Alexand. and Complut. read it: the fathers on one side sing- iyg praises to God; on the other, bewailing their children.] Ver. 10. But on the other side there sounded anill-according cry of the enemies, and a lument- able noise was carried abroad for children that were bewatled.] i. e. There was a great outcry of.the parents, like Rachel, weeping for their children, because they were not. How great this cry was, may be conceived from the Scrip- tures, comparing any very extraordinary afflic- tion to the death of a first-born. But when all the first-born, the noblest offspring of them, were in one moment destroyed together, what comparison can equal such a grief, or what words strong enough to express it? the words here seem too faint, and the affliction would be better expressed in those vigorous mournful terms, by which the LXX express the lamenta- tion of Esau for the loss of his blessing, “AnCéoxce Poriy Meyaany, % wixeay opodpa, Gen. XXxVvii. 34. Or of the Egyptians, and all the house of Joseph and his brethren, for the death of Jacob, ‘ExiparJo aviv xomtlér ueyay % izyupty cpadpa, Gen. 1. 10. The Chaldee paraphrase upon Exod. xii. 30. where the great cry of the Egyptians is mentioned, ob- serves, that though Goshen was in the midst of the land of Egypt, and Pharaoh’s palace at the entrance of it, yet when Pharaoh called to Moses and Aaron upon this melancholy occasion, “. Audita-est ejus vox in nocte Paschatis usque ad terram Gosen, deprecabatur enim Pharao voce amara.” There is also another sense of the place given by some interpreters, “* That there was a great cry of the children themselves, making lamentation.” This is favoured by the Arabic, which renders, “ Vox puerorum plo- rantium miserabilis immiscebatur ;” [he seems to, have read, SepupeJo] and Junius takes it in the Same sense, ‘* Miserabilis huc iluc ferebatur vox lamentantium puerorum.” [in the Greek it 1S passive, Spnvuirer, ploratorum, not lamen- tantium. _Qur version is right.] But, I think, the sense of our version far preferable ; for as the death of the first-born was a sudden stroke of God, as they were all cut off in one moment, the cry of the children themselves seems not so probable, as that of their parents lamenting. for THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 207 them; which is the sense of the Greek, the Vulgate, St Jerom’s Bible, as it is called, and o¥ all the old English versions. [See ver. 18. where the author seems to write otherwise. Myé: Hiay forty does not necessarily signify in one moment of time, but at one stroke; which allows a greater latitude, and makes the author consistent with himself.] Ver. 12. So they all together had innumerable dead with one kind of death.| "Ev ‘et bréjuahs Sarare. "Ovouz is used in the same sense, ch. xix. 18. and so nomen is often to be understood in the classic writers. Thus Virgil, Omnia penarum percurrere nomina possem. fEneid. vi. Would not the sense of our version be some- what improved, if the rendering was, ‘* 5o they all had innumerable dead together,’’ 2. e. at the same time, with one kind of death. To this sudden calamity of the Egyptians, the Chaldee paraphrase applies: those words of Job, chap. xxxiv. 20. ** In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away (suddenly,) and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.” The Psalmist ac- cordingly calls the first-born, ‘* the chiefest of all their strength,’ Psal. cv. 36, [Ibid. ou8 » apic ra Saban of Caries noav Ixawei, must be put in a parenthesis, otherwise there will be no connection; and even then, this will seem to be an unnatural exaggeration, that ** the living were not sufficient to bury the dead,” when, by his own confession, only the first-born, one in each house was destroyed, Exod. xii. 30. Unless under rexgee he meant to comprehend the first-born of the beasts like- wise: Of which, however, there is not the least hint given by him: For in this whole ac- count he seems to speak of men only. ] .Ver. 13. For whereas they would not believe any thing by reason of thety enchantments.] Maya » amselis, which would be better rendered, ‘* though they disbelieved the rest of the mira- cles, and were not persuaded by all their other calamities.” And thus Calmet, * Ils n’avoient point cra tous les autres prodiges, a cause de leurs magiciens.’’ And so the Arabic version expressly reads, ‘* Non credentes omnibus ca- lamitatibus quz sibi acciderant.”? And the Syriac, ** his autem omnibus, propter magiam, non credentes.” The magicians, Jannes and Jambres, contributed much to this insensibility, and disbelief of the kgyptians ; for they would not acknowledge (sod’s power manifested in their former plagues, because the magicians, 208 THE BOOK OF WISDOM. by their enchantments, had imitated some of the wonders performed by Moses and Aaron: When they cast down every man his rod, they became serpents, as Aaron’s rod did, Exod. vii. 12. With their enchantments also they brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt, as Aaron had done, Exod. viii. 7. and therefore they had a specious pretext to look upon such wonders as an effect of art magic, and not as any certain proof of the divine omnipotence. But supposing these to be the real miracles per- formed by the magicians, which some have thought to be turafyyelz, or in appearance only ; yet this resemblance, in some particulars, was not sufficient to render their obstinacy excus- able, because though, the enchanters could do mischief, yet it was not in their power after- wards to remove and remedy it: And the plague of darkness in particular was such, that the magicians, upon account of it, were ‘ sick themselves of fear, worthy to be laughed at,” ch. xvii. 8. ‘The degrees, or rather the me- thod of God’s punishment in the several plagues of Egypt, is curious and worth observing ; first he smote their water; then sent frogs, flies, and lice, and such other things as were gric- vous indeed, but not so affecting to ihem as the loss of their goods, @d/y, Therefore God smote their cattle, a greater plague than the former, yet not so near them as their own bo- dies. 3dly, Therefore God smites their bodies with painful sores and boils, very grievous and loathsome, yet he spared their lives. But now, when all the former plagues were ineffectual, he taketh away life itself; nota single life, or a number of them in particular families, but he smiteth at once all the first-born through- out the whole land of Egypt. We may observe, says a very learned critic, a kind method of providence in punishing, whereby it sends some previous afflictions to warn men in time, so as to make them shun the greater evils by repentance. Dacier’s Not. on Aristot. Art of Poetry. And then he instances in the Egyp- tian plagues, which he compares to Homer’s account of the plague, supposed to be sent from heaven by way of punishinent, and sciz- ing first on mules and dogs, before it affected men : Oveties piv wearer trayile, 1 xvas aeyss. Avrag trerr mureics Bidos. Wliad. i. On mules and dogs the infection first began, And last the vengeful arrows fixed in man, Ibid. They acknowledzed this people to be the the heavens ;” denoting. hereby ‘ts'g sons of God.} This last plague, viz. the death of their first-born, atdength subdued thé stag? bornness and hardness of their heart, and télide them confess not only the superior powet of Ged but that this people, in whose behalf he so “ig? nally interposed, were his sons or Choset. "Pitt Greek reads, O:8 yzv in the singular numberfak luding, probably, to God’s styling % "Latae his son, even his first-born,” Exod. iv.'99, -* Ver. 14. Instead of § wxlo¢ & Bio TAXES fetus @one, it should be aye, ‘ sorte, portione, offs cio :” * And night was in the middle of het proper office.” The other, I think, is not setisé, The poet expresses it thus: ‘ Torquet medids nox humida cursus:” and, ‘ Et medios oy. sus nox intempesta tenebat.” The night’ts here spoken of as a person or goddess, who feigned by the ancients to be drawn over dir hemisphere in a charict, as the sun is by ddy, Our translators have rendered it as if #a'were no more than avri. They were more ext in ver. 21. where rig ac aclepyiae is rendered, ‘his proper ministry :” And again xixy'®, The night has her 3: atxo, proper office, ter business assigned to her. But what 1wi'tayr ‘© proper or peculiar swiftness,” may ‘be know not.] bai Ver. 15. Thine almighty word leapt we heaven, out of (thy) royad thronc.] In thet it should be written either Spcrar Bawsrerar (thot ~ . ~ =: . te cnamy, asin bos) or Bacamer.| Grotius applicsthis description, which is very grand and ta ad. cent, to an angel commissioned by God ‘forthe punishment and destruction of the first bommpf the Egyptians: other learned men have ith gined from the titles and attributes of the Aivi- nity here mentioned, that God inflicted ‘tis jast and most sensible plague upon the Egyp- tians immediately himself, for Exod. ‘si! 4. says, * At midnight will [ go out’ into"th midst of Egypt, and all the first-botw fact land of Egypt shall die.’ Bishop Bull’ condemns Grotius for applying these worlsty a created angel, says, they mast necessari understood cf a divine person, and he, for his opinion the three followin 4 1. That the Word is here called’ Almi That it is described as having 4 ‘* rbyal" in heaven,” and descending ‘from ‘th dreadful majesty, commissioned by’ Got ccute vengeance upon this occasion. 19, E its figure and appearance was so ex adtal n that, while “ it stood upon earth, “it'te p and power in both, “This divine pet Coy XV Cuar. XVITI. conceives to, be the very Aéyor, and that tlie de- seription.and character are most ne to him.) Defens. Fid. Nic. lib. i. To the rea- sons produced by this learned prelate, in fa- vour of the Aéyor, we may add, that the angel so often.spoken of in the Old Testament, both before and under the law, by the title of Jeho- vah, the Angel of Jehovah, the Angel of God’s Presence, the Angel of the Covenant, &c. who appeared so frequently about matters relating to the government, protection, and preserva- tion of the church of God, unto Adam, Abra- ham, the patriarchs, Moses, and other holy men of old, who brought Israel out of Egypt, conducted them through the wilderness, gave them the law on Mount Sinai, and afterwards resided in a wonderful manner amongst them in the.tabernacle and temple, having the in- communicable name and attributes of God a- scribed to him, and divine worship and adora- tion paid to him, was the @ qarloluvepoc Os ad~ yes, the Almighty Word of Jehovah,” 1 Cor. x. 9. Exod. xxiii, 20. Philo de Agricult. and so. may well be supposed to be the agent in slaying the first-born, in defence and vindica- tion of his own pecultum. But we need not suppose this Ae there is yet a stronger evi- dence, the Chaldee paraphrase on Exod. xii. 29, where mention is made of the death of the first-born, expressly makes the Logos to be the agent, and renders, ‘* Et fuit in media nocte deciini quinti, & Sermo Domini interfecit om- nen) primogenitum in terra A°gypti.”” Lastly, There is a description not unlike this, Rev. xix. 15. and, to particularize the person, it. is said, ver..13. Kg xxacirar 7d Groma nurs, 6 Adyos Te Ow, which Mr Mede observes to be the same as‘** Ipse est Verbum illud Dei,” B. v. c. 11. That the Aéyix should be mentioned by this _writer, in terms not only of grandeur and mag- nificence, but divinity itself; that omnipotence and immensity should be ascribed to him, and 3 royal throne assigned him, probably the _ throne of his own glory ; see Rev. iii. 21. and : Mr Mede, B. v. c. 10. (for though our English ifranslations have ¢hy throne, yet no copies of 4 he Greek do warrant this, mor insert coy or ow here, nor do the Oriental, or any ancient ver- sions take notice of it,) this so exalted a notion of the Logos, [ say, our author probably took from the traditions at that time among the Jews, or fronysome hints in the Old Testament, or some apphentic paraphrases of it, or from some an- ete it writers, the sXX in particular, who, in many places of their version, speak of the Logos THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 209 as a divine person, and sufficiently shew their sentiments on this head. Ibid. As a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction, and brought thine unfeigne ed commandment as a sharp sword, and standing up, filled all things with death.] { By land of de- struction, rig érdziae yic, | suppose is meant, the land destined to destruction, viz. Egypt.] ‘A fierce man of war.’ Thus in Moses’ song, the Lord, or Jehovah, is represented as ‘¢ a man of war,” Exod. xv. 3. which the Vulgate tran- slates, ** quasi vir pugnator,” and the LXX more strongly xvpie¢ curigilay woatuve. But the description here is more like that of the person who appeared to Joshua, in the form of a man with a drawn sword in his hand, who called himself, ** the prince or captain of the host of the Lord,’’ Jos. v. 14. but was himself a di- vine person, as appears from the worship which Joshua paid him, and the title of Jehovah giv- en to him, and was, according to the best in- terpreters, ‘* the Word of the Lord, or the very Logos.” And thus the very learned Usher : *¢ Jesus Dominus noster, princeps militie Patris sui, Jesu typico ad Jerichuntem stricto gladio apparens, promittit se populum defen- surum.”” Adann, M. 2553. The same di- vine person, who conducted his people out of Egypt, and afterwards their chief leader and commander, was likewise the 6 dacdgevar 7a apofd- roxe, victorious over that people by slaying their first-born. ‘The Chaldee paraphrase on Exod. xii. 12. to express the greatness of this destruc- tion, says, that almost an infinite number of destroying angels attended him, ‘* Nonaginta mille myriades angleorum perdentium.” It has been objected against this interpretation, that the title of a destroying angel is an un- worthy appellation of the Logos ; but to this the answer is easy, viz. that the divine person, called the Lord, Gen. xix. 24. who * rained down from heaven fire and brimstone from the Lord upon Sodoin and Gomorrah,” is by Philo, the ancient fathers, and the best interpreters, understood to be the Logos, who, as he assists and succours such as are Israelites indeed, so upon his enemies, says Philo, he sends, ¢asOgcr § pdogay aréaloy, ‘* inevitable ruin and destruc- tion,” De Somm. The Logos may therefore, without any imputation, be said to be the exe- cutioner of this vengeance.—The comparison of the word of God to a sharp sword, ,which this writer uses, occurs in Sciipture, Ephes. vi. 17. Heb. iv. 12. See also Philo de Cherub. Some have thought that the author of the Dd 216 Book of Wisdom, did not mean here the person, emphatically called the Mord, nor intended to express the action itslf of the destroying angel, but only figuratively the divine command is- suzd out from the throne of God to execute his vengeance upon the enemies of his people. And the description is thought to agree very well with this supposition, * From his royal throne God’s authority was shewn:” His un- feigned commandment of destruction was the Jaw of his mouth ; and the equity of it consisted in that supreme dominion which God has over universal nature, presiding over both the heaven and the earth, signified by that sublime picture, “ It touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth.” Grotius accordingly applies these words to a created angel; and if the expressions, Almighty, royal throne in heaven, and while it stood upon earth, it touched the heaven, be ap- plied to universal providence, which supports and governs all things by his word, and is often in Scripture, represented as sitting on a throne, and commanding the instruments of his power from tiience, it has been thought by some that we need not introduce the Mediator of the New Covenant, in this action, nor leave room for a conjecture that he may be!one of those created angels, who were often employed in the admi- nistration of the affairs of the Jews under the Old Testament. Bishop Patrick’s Exposition of Exod, xxiii, 21. “lay seem to confirm this sense of the apocryphal writer, ‘obey his voice,” i. e. because he did but report what God himself commanded, who was there present with them, as long as they obliged him—* for my name is in him,” i.e. he acts by my authority and power. Maimonides expounds it, * my word is in him,” i.e. says he, God’s will and pleasure was de- clared by the angel. In which he seems to follw the Chaldee, who transiates it, “ for his wérd is in my name,” i. e. what he speaks is by my authority. Patrick’s Comment. If we lay any stress upon David’s account of this matter, we shall rather be inclined to believe that it was an evil angel who performed this work. In Psal. Ixxviti. 4g. it is said, that God cast upon the Lxyptians the fierceness of his wrath, in- dignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. And Moses scems to have deter- mined the passage to this sense by the following words : “ ‘The Lord will pass over the door, and will not suitcr the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you: Intimating, that this work was done by an evil angel, since he would have made no distinction between the innocent FHE BOOK OF WISDOM. Car. XVHL and the guilty, had not the destruction ‘of the former been peremptorily forbidden by God, And if it be thus far probable that it was an evil angel who was employed upon this occas sion, as the instrument of God’s providence, how_dangerous must it be to imagine, that the spotless Lamb of God was the immediate agent of taking away life, when his proper business upon earth was rather to give life? Knowles's Answer to Essay on Spirit, p. 37, 49. : Ibid. And it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth.) ‘The description here very much resembles that of the destroying angel, mention.. ed 1 Chron. xxi. 16. who, when he brought that great plague, which slew seventy thousand men, from Dan to Beersheba, is represented as visibly standing between the heavens and the earth, having a drawn sword in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. Our author is to be under. stood of the same divine person, who is so mag. nificently described in the former verse, who, though equal with God, and partaking of the fulness of the Godhead, was his holy Father's agent in his communications with mankind, particularly with regard to the children of Israel, his pecudium ; and is expressly called, the angel of the divine counsel, not only as being the herald and publisher of his will upon.earth, but as mj. nister to execute his orders, sometimes to pre: serve good men, or a chosen nation, and some. timesto inflict destruction upon a wicked people; and fills both heaven and earth with his ink mense presence. Upen all these accounts, -he may, With great propriety, be said * to touch the heaven, and stand upon the carth.”” How muck more properly and beautifully is this expression applied to the Logos, than to the person of Fame, as Virgil has used it? Parva metu primd, mox sese attollit in auras, Ingrediturque solo, &S caput inter nubila condit. ZEn. lib. iv. Or to Discord. as Homer has applied it? Discord! dire sister of the slaughtering pow'r, Small at her birth, but rising ev'ry heur,: ; While scarce the skies her horrid head can bound, °. She stalks in earth, and shakes the world around. Pope’s Hom. B. iv. ver. 902, This last description, however it may be extolled by the critics as a just allegory, and a noble in stance of the sublime, and as such is quoted aad commended by Longinus, yet can be regarded only as an idea, the creature of a fine fancy, and Not as a real person, like that in the description before us, who has not only a being in, but an Almighty power over nature. The expressio2 Guar. XVIII. of touching heaven, and yet standing upon the earth, when applied to the Logos, seems equiva- lent to that which God uses of himself, ‘‘ Heaven is my throne, and the earth nry footstool,” Isai. Ixvi. 1. To which agrees that description of Or- pheus, speaking of the Deity, Abra 3° ad ptryar avbis ix” ipevay tsneitlas Xevoin esi Sedra, syoein @ bro weost Bionney. Ver. 17. Then suddenly visions of horrible dreams troubled them sore.| Visions of horrible dreams is an unusual expression, and scarce to be justified. Vhe Greek is, 92:Jac/x: bretgay, i. c. Visions or apparitions in dreams. And thus the Arabic understands it, ‘‘ Seva somniorum spec- tra exagitarunt eos,” or visions and horrible dreams, which is Calmet’s sense, “ Ils furent troublez par des Songes, & des visions horribles.” The Scripture makes no mention of these ter- rible dreams and visions preceding the destruc- tion of the first-born. It may not improperly be asked, to whom these dreams and visions happened, whether the parents or the first-born, and for what end or design.—To suppose them sent, to the first-born themselves, to advertise them of the reason of their deaths, would be of little satisfaction, and less use ; for what effect could such a notice have upon persons immedi- ately to die, especially such of the first-born as, through their infancy and tender age, could not have transgressed and given offence, and were incapable of shewing any repentance? Such a scene indeed, laid open to the parents, of the sad approaching fate of all their first-born, their dearest pledges, and growing hopes, and as in- flicted upon them for ¢heir obstinacy and wicked- Ness, must greatly add to their misery, as it af- fected them so nearly, and might be of future Service to the parents to prevent their sinning against God in the like daring manner. But did not Moses give them notice and warning of this imminent calamity very expressly, Exod. xi. 45. And was not this more to be depended upon than uncertain dreams and airy visions ? This account seems to me to be grounded upon ‘some rabbinical tradition, or to be a designed exaggeration, such as we meet with in profane story, where instances of dreadful apparitions, warning persons of some grievous approaching misfortune, are not uncommon. ‘Thus, before the destruction of Troy, Hector, according to the poet, appears to Aéneas : In somnis ecce ante oculos mestissimus Hector Visus adesse mihi, largosque effundere fletus ; Feu fuge, nate Ded, teque his, ait, eripe flammis : ‘Hostis habet'muros, fén. lib. ii. THE ROOK OF WISDOM. 211 Ver. 18. And cne thrown here, and another there, huif dead, shewed the cuuse of his death. | This, at first sight, seems a little inconsisient, as our translators have rendered it: Is not sud- den death always understood to be an utter Ce- privation of all sense and lite? Can they then who are represented, ver. 12. as destroyed in one moment suddenly, be with propriety: said to be cast here and tiere haif dead, sutiering, as it were, a lingering death ? Or can a person ha’f dead (nusinifoc) shew the cause why he died? I once therefore thought the true reading here to be oxo4rjoc, i. e. that one thrown here, aid ano- ther there (¢uo%J0,) destroyed at the same time, and in the same manner, declared the cause of this common death, and general calamity, viz. that it was the just judgment of God, who in- flicted it, and not the power of evil angels, nor the force of magic, nor any thing natural that befel them; which affords a good sense, and very applicable to so sudden a stroke, which destroyed such numbers in an instant. [But is this word éucbmifec any where found? If it is, it would signify stu mortalis, not simul perditus, or destroyed at the same time.] But as the sense of this place may seem confined to that of the immediate context, and the preceding and following verses refer both to dreams and appa- ritions, the meaning of this passage is generally taken to be, that the first-born of the Egyptians were apprized of their imminent danger, and acquainted with the true cause of it, by appari- tions and notices given them in dreams; and being half dead through the apprehension of it, declared to their relations and friends, the true reason upon which they should suffer, and why all of them were at-once sentenced to die. Ac- cording to this interpretation, Junius renders very properly, érncx, by moreredur, which makes the sense mucli cleaver, and the Syriac and Arabic both express it by the same mood. ("Ebnsxey is moriturus erat, or esset : which is very different from iba. See the notes upon Max. Tyrius, p. 698. Edit. Lond. Instead of xuidnijoc, I should have thought, nu4i¢ the true reading ; for nyse (or vipubaric, Luke x. 30.) is half dead ; upiriec, half mortal. But as the Alexand. MS has ¢Oxcxey and éregar2or, in the plu- ral; there can be no doubt but the author wrote, Kai aaarce anraxn figec, HMIONHTES &Y sy eQvnracy airiar tveparior.] Ver. 20. Ya, the tasting of death touched the righteous also, and there was a destruction of the multitude in the wilderness, but the wrath endur- ed not long.) From the destruction of the firsi- o ee 212 THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Guar XVAf) born, the -author takes occasion to mention the overthrow of the Israelites in the wilderness’; and, by a-comparison of God’s dealing with the Egyptians, and his own people, it appears that the former were punished without mercy, the sentence of death against their first-born being executed without any mitigation, reserve, or ex- ception ; but Aaron no sooner appears in favour of the offending Israelites, but, through his in- tercession, the plague ceases, and the wrath of (sod is appeased. The expressions used by this writer, to describe their destruction, seem too mild and favourable for so great an overthrow. ‘The Scripture history informs us, that no less than fourieen thousand and seven hundred were slain by the plague inflicted on them for mur- muring against Moses and Aarqn, Numb, xvi. 49. ‘“‘ when the dead thus fell down by heaps one upon another,” as it follows, ver. 23. Death may rather be said to have made havock of the Israelites, but it is described here as a small ca- lamity, and an inconsiderable loss, in compari- son of what. happened to the Egyptians. It is observable, that Spates, by which this destruc- tion is expressed, both here, and in the book of Numbers, signifies likewise a tumult or commo- tion; and so it includes elegantly, the cause and the effect, the sin:and its punishment. _ Ver. 21. For then the blameless man made haste, and stood ferth to defend them, and bring- ing. the shield of bis proper ministry, even prayer, and. the propitiation of incense, set himself against the wrath, and so brought the calamity to an end,]. That isyin the Scripture language, Aaron interceded, and put on incense, and made an atonement for the people, and the wrath of God was instantly turned away ; whereby he shew- ed the great power of the ministerial function with God. And, thus St Jerom, “ Cuprens ira Dei sacerdotii voce prohibebatur,” i. e. “ The wrath of God coming, as it were, full speed up- on. them,, was stopped by the voice and power of the. priesthood.’”,- It,is worth observing, that Aaron, who undertakes to intercede for the peo- »ple,.is here, described by the great character of the blameless man ;, Upon which the fathers re- magk, that such, and so blameless ought all those priests of .God to be, who stand forth to defend others by their prayers and ministry, and would do true service to their people, and.ren- sder, their Jabours effectual to the great purpose jof reconciliation, St, Gregory, in partjeular, hus ;happily, enforces a blameless conduct in _guych as,ministey about holy, things; “Jf a man as ashamed, to, preseot himself, before an equal for pardon, whom he has offended, and wiuh much difficulty obtains forgiveness, /how. shal} one that is conscious of his own bad/lite,, ang must conclude the God of purity and holiness tg be his enemy on that account, dare to take sp, on himself the high dignity of an intereeas for others? How shall he, to any..PUrpose,, im, plore God’s mercy for his brethren, whastands in so much need of it himself, and has reason. te doubt of his own acceptance ?” Greg. Pastor, P, j ar oeme 6 ie a Uh Ver. 22. So he overcame the destroyer; ‘not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but withe word subdued he him that punished.) , Asap blood of the paschal lamb stayed the angel - which destroyed the Egyptians, from touching the Israelites, Exod. xi. 23. Heb. Mie the smoke of Aaron’s incense (figuring the iayty ' diation of Christ), stayed the plague heretftog the surviving Israelites. The Lord, thrangh the prevalence of his intercession,. ‘repented him of the evil, and said to the angehthat, dg stroyed the people, It is enough, stay now,thy hand,” 2 Sain. xxiv. 16. The Greek textiof this passage of our author, is different acgos¢ ing to the copies: The Vatican editiop,, Alexandrian MS read irixnse ray oxaor,, and: 49 the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic render; jug. he overca:Me the plague or trouble, ce, trouhé, says Calmet, occasioned by their murmurifg, for so oyace somctimes signifies, as well*as,.nul titude ; in which last sense, it is impropesly taken by the old English versions, for. the cog test was not with the multitude, but saith. the destroyer. [IL believe oxa was designed)sfar xerv, wam; which 1 take to be the true reag- ing. See Heb. xii. 15, texan which in Deut. Xxix. 18. is i xoar.} ‘The Complut.\dir tion has érxnce roy crobpeverfa, which our: transla tors manifestly follow here. The sense, of sh passage in either reading, is, that Aaron sto the plague, or the angel of death, by -the word; and so the old versions, with more. propriety, render ; i, e. by the prayer which he so powef fully addressed to God: ‘* Aaron le surmomta, (says Calmet,) par la force de la priere,quil adressa 4 Dieu ;”? and by reminding bim ofthe promises which he had. made to their fosef thers, the patriarchs, Abraham, Igaacy apdola cob; the covenant which be had entered ints andthe oath which he had sworn ,unto-them: which last cireumstance is, not meatjqnedst® the. Books of Moses, as.an. argument, or mall? uyged, by Aaron. ‘There seems. great. aren «and energy in the original words, xéyo7s1 x9 -Gaar. XVI. jbettaty)~i-%. ¢ by the power of prayer he brought nder, or into subjection, the destroy- er-himself'scand, as it were; forced or constrain- ed:him to relent.” This efficacy, and almost uiicontroulable power of prayer; is finally dis- played upon another ‘instance of disobedience, which provoked God’s displeasure against the Israclites ; they had solemnly promised God hot to worship any image, as he had exnressly férbidden them by Moses, and immediately af- ter, as if in defiance of his vengeance, they made the molten calf, and sacrificed to it as their ‘great deliverer out of Egypt. Upon which, d ‘says to. Moses, ‘* Let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that [ may consume them,” Exod, xxxii. 10. inti- ‘mating, as if he could do nothing against them, thatchis almighty power was restrained, so long 4§’Moses prayed, and interceded for them. iypMersQ3. For when the dead were now fallen down by heaps one upon ancther, standing between, he stayed the wrath, and parted ihe way to the ‘Ucing.|: The latter part of this verse is some- -whatvobseurcly expresscd ; the sense is, ‘¢ He stood between the dead and the living, and prayed for' the people ;? for so St Jerom’s Bible, ‘as ib'ts catled, adds, and stopped the way of the destroyer to'them that remained; the Geneva Bible‘renders, ‘“ He stood in the midst, and cut .off the-wrath, and parted it from coming to the living.’ See Numb. xvi. 48. where the Chal- dee-paraphrase mentions Aaron standing pray- qe inithe midst, and with his censer making a ‘septation, ‘* Stetit Abaron in oratione in fnedio; & fecit interstitium cum thuribulo inter tortuos & inter vivos.”’ ' Ver, 24. For in the long garment «as the whole ‘qworld.| “Evi aodngys trdupaloe nv bro¢ 6 “Kesey **' In veste poderis quam habbebat,”’ says 3$t Jerom’s Bible, ; i. e. upon the long robe or armént which Aaron had on,” (not 7 i, as our version hds it), was a representation of the ‘Whole world’; for upon the skirts of the high. priest’s robe, and on his girdle, was a variety. - Of peculiar colours, as blue, purple, scarlet, and. Lwhtte';" by which four, according to Josephus, were represented the four elements ; for by the ~scarlety the fire-was represented ; by the white. ‘dinénythe earth ; by the blue, the air; and by ‘the purple, the water or sea. St Jerom hath the very:same conceit, “* Pontifex Dei-.creatu-- ‘yarn omnium ty pum portans in vestibus suis.” ‘Epist. ad. Fabiol. which he’ borrowed: probably from Vosephus;- Antiq. lib. iii, es 7 or froin “Philo, who says" ‘Onn uly Bh ytforer ‘Garaxine pee, Hy THE BOOK OF: WISDOM. 213 Liunua Te xoopw, re St uégn, Tor xed txasey peor. De Mose, lib. iii. And in many other places he has:'the same thought. De Profug.—De Som- nis.» Clemens | Alexandrinus expresses the sense of our author still nearer, Te 3 ’Apyupéoc 6 wodipne xdcuw ésiy aisSile cupCor. Strom. v. See also Ambr.. De fug. scec. c. iii. It would be tedious to mention the many rabbinical con. ceits, supposed to be mystically implied in this imagery of the high priest’s robe. This is a very remarkable instance of the allegorical in- terpretation, which chiefly was in vogue from the time of the LXX version, to that of Aqui- la, for near four centuries. See Mangey’s Pref. vol. i. Philo abounds in expositions of this sort: Nor is it any wonder, that our au- thor, who was most probably an Alexandrian Jew, should affect the same: Instances of it are frequent in the writings of Barnabas, Hermas, and other's of the apostolical writers. And we have a very remarkable one in St Paul’s Epis- tles, Ta 8 “Ayap Ewa Opec, x. r. a. Gal. iv. 24, 25. But there is another interpretation of this pas- sage of our author, which is not so far fetched, or mystical, as the former, viz. that upon the long garment, or high priest’s robe, were all sorts of ornaments, for so xésuos very frequently signifies, as well as the world. And some have thought this sense of the word to be more a- greeable to the place, and to agree better with the context, where some of the ornaments are mentioned, particularly the resplendent breast- plate. In this sense, Junius understands the words, rendering, ‘“‘In talari vestimento totus erat ornatus;’? and thus the Geneva Bible, ‘*« In the long garment was all the ornament ;”” and Coverdale’s version is rather more expres. sive, ‘* In hys long garment was all the beau- ty.” [But the Greek, base 6 xoouee, cannot sig- nify ‘* all sorts of ornaments.” The first in- terpretation is indisputably the true one ; the - latter, as being a mistake, is scarce worth men- tioning, unless as: such, “Ones & xeomos, as Xvibs. 20, Gan 4 xliow, xix. 63. Ibid. And in the four. rows of the-stones was : the glory of the fathers graven.) ‘This isa de- scription of the pectoral, adorned with jewels, which the high priest wore, which were so ar- tificially set in it, as if they.were but one single stone, though really.divided into four rows by. little partitions of gold, and all together made a square of precious stone ; the Greek accord-. ‘ingly expresses this by ztlpasfyu aibs-in the sin- gular number. _Hereon were engraven in He.. brew characters, the glorious names’of the pa-. 214 triarchs, Jaccb’s twelve sons, and the insignia of the several tribes, according to their gencra- tions or births, called: here the fathers, or the heads of the tribes: the names of the stx elder were towards the right shoulder, and the other six towards the left. Joseph. Antiq. lib. iit. c.7. In the high priest’s breast-plate were likewise the Urim and Thammin, which gave answer in difficult cases; but the learned are not agreed npon the manner of consulting, or receiving the answer from thence. These two ornaments, says St Jerom, which signify Aighé and perfection, intimate, that in God’s mini- sters, purity of doctrine, and holiness of life, should alwavs be inseparable: That truth should be engraven in their very heart, and that the light within should shine forth in all that appears outwardly—not only their words, but their actions; their motions, their dress, should bespeak them more immediately the ser- vants of God, and have some tendency to teach and instruct others. ‘* Veritatem mente con- cipiat, & toto eam habitu resonet & ornata, ut qnicquid agit, quicquid Joquitur, sit Doc- trina populoruin.”? Hieron. Epist. 127. De vest. Sacerdot. Ibid.] And thy Majesty upon the diadem of his head.] Upon Aaron’s triple crown or diadem, was'an inscription of the sacred name of God ; ‘* Holiness unto the Lord,” being engraved in a golden plate upon the forelead. We may also, with Josephus, understand this allegori- cally, that the triple crown and plate of gold represented the glory and majesty of the Al- mighty. Jn loc. citat. Ecclus. xlv. 12. Ver. 25. Unto these the destroyer gave place, and was afraid of then.) Uf such regard was paid, even ‘by the destroying angel, to Aaron, the high priest, apparelled in his sacred habit, ap- pearing in his robe of glory, as to stop his hand and alter his purpose, we need wonder the less at what Josephus records concerning Atexander the Great ; ‘“ Upon intelligence that he was drawing near towards Jerusalem, Jad- dus the high priest advanced to meet him to- gether with the rest of the priests in the habits of their order, with the citizens in a venerable pomp and solemnity. : When Alexander saw from a distance the order of the procession, the people all in white, with the priests at the head of them in their silken -robes, and the high priest himself in his purple stole, embroidered with gold, his mitre tipon his head, and a gold- en plate upon his forehead, with the name of God engraven upon it, tlie majesty of this spec- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cyae. XE tacle strick him with so reverend.an awa, he advanced to, and embraced Jaddus, adop, ed the sacred inscription, and instead of ide, stroying the city, be went up to the temple, and sacrificed there in form.” Antiq. libs.xi, c. 8. ‘ ; Ibid. Fur i was enough that they only tasted of the wrath) We may-hence see the truth of that cbservation, * The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” James v. 16. For, upon the intercession, of Aaron, God thought fit to spare the rest of the people, and to give a speciinen only of his.dig. pleasure for the instruction of such as yet re mained alive. His design was, by a taste only of his severity, to make his chosen sensible.of the great danger of failing in their duty and obedience to him, and how dreadful and insup- portable the fury of his wrath must be —But he dealt not so tavourably with the Egvptians, upon whom his vengeance was poured out in full measure, when he smote all the first-born in Egypt, “ the most principal and mightiest in the dwellings of Ham,” Psal. Ixxviii. 5% LAt the end of this chapter, there seems to, be wanting the word Sxe/oe (as ver. 20.) after.or betore ixemm: to which is opposed aceGéo in the beginning of the next chapter: thus, 178 gem weipa ris bpyitc Sato inant roig ki AZEBERI pixg rénee, &. See upon ch. xi. 9.] CHA PF AA. . THE ARGUMENT.—God's vengeance against sin- ners further shewn in the final overthrow the Egyptians in the Red Sea, whilst the Israel- ites, bis chosen, passed over itason dry land, upan which occasion Moses composed an iziixm, oF | hymn of thanksgiving. A_ recapitulation of some of the former plagues, and of partion mercies vouchsafed to the Israelites in the wil- derness. The author concludes the book wild a fine observation, that universal nature is 0b- sequious to God’s will ; that all the element Sulfil bis pleasure, and change their known qualities and powers, either to take vengean ¢ upon his enemics, or to succour and protect bis chosen. : S for the ungodly, wrath came upon thom without mercy unto the end: for he kit before what they would do. This, says Calatt, should be joined to the former chaptety which the author mentions, that the wrath of God being hot against the murmuring. Israel- ites, Aaron stopped its progress ; but, says he, wien God determines to take vengeance.of the Guar. XIX. Egyptians, nothing is able to stop or withstand it; it admits of no intercession, nor knows any mitigation or end.—After having smote them with successive plagues, and slain all their first- born in the same instant, his severity and in- dignation pursues them péxye riave, ‘ to the very last, to an utter-end of them,” which was ac- complished by their final overthrow in the Red Sea. God knew the obstinacy and stubborn- ness of Pharaoh; he had pronouneed of him long before, that he would not hearken unto Moses, nor regard any, or all the wonders and signs done by hii, kexod. vil. 4. He knew the evil heart of the Egyptians, and their inveterate malice against Israel, and he prepared a pu- nishment suitable to their insidious design, and wicked intention. Ver. 2. Llow that having given them leaze to depart, and sent them hastily away.| Kai pero causie opomiu are avrec which signifies some- thing more than hastily ; it means, that they not only urged them to be gone, but assisted thenr in their departure, and furnished them with all necessaries that they wanted for their ‘journey, which is confirmed by oporiu bars, which is joined to it; for se this very phrase is used by St Paul, Zar 4 Amoaad covdatos apereu— fo, i.e. Help Zenas and Apollos forward on their Journey with care ail diligence; and this is explained by the words which immedi- ately follow, tx pndiy aurois adr, that they may want nothing, Vit. iii. 13. See also Acts xv. 3. Phis hasty departure of the Israelites was fore- told Exod. xt. t. where the Hebrew reads, “ When he shall send youaway, he shall thrust- ing thrust you out from hence altogether.” The translation of tne LXX tvo is very strong and remarkable in this place, é&Gxaa vuas txCoan, where the very manner of the expression im- plies eagerness and impatience to perform it: But the Chaldee paraphrase upon the place is most full to the present purpose, “ Expellendo expellet vos, & cum dimiserit, exitium erit ip- st;” and, in the account which follows after, Exod. xii. 33. relating to their departure, it is said, that the “ Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they myht send them out of the land in haste ;?? where the LXX render, with a particular emphasis, xalSilorlo cowby inGanay averse: and the learned rabbins observe, that the Hebrew word which expresses haste, and is used in this place upon the occasion, hath it in an extraordinary mark (noted also. in the Hebrew margin) which encreaseth the Signification, and implies a more than than or- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 215 dinary care and haste in urging their departure : and no wonder that they were so.importunate to have them instantly gone; for they said, as the same paraphrase continues the account, “ Si moram traxerint ipsi hic horam unam, ecce omnes A°gyptii mortui,” “ Ifthe Israelitescon- tinue here one hour longer, we are all dead men ;” and therefore what Josephus adds is not improbable, that the Keyptians made the Hebrews very considerable presents to induce them to go the sconer away. Ver. 3. For whiist they were yet mourning and making lamentation at the graves of the dead.] This is not fully expressed, and probably wrong translated. In the original it 1s, ¢z: é xepoir Exorlec ra ainda, x weororupcucro Tapoe vexpor, Which _Means a great deal more, as I apprehend, than bare crying and bewailing ; iv xapbicc, Or ér ppeaiy exe 73 aiboc, may indeed express inward sor- row ; but it seems little less than a solecism to. describe such a passion of the mind by & xepciz txev va wérdy, I am inclined rather to under- stand and apply this phrase to the then employ- ment of the Egyptians after the great loss of their first-born, that they determined to set for- ward, and pursue the Israelites, even then, when. all hands were employed in making the usual ne- cessary funeral preparations for their dead ; for thus I understand iy xtpoir Exorlee rx werdn, Which the Egyptians observed very strictly, and, ac- cording to Herodotus and Dhodorus Siculus, Were not wanting in, either to the better, mid- dle, or even the meaner sort. ‘They mention,, likewise, the manner of these preparacions, how, and at what rates they were performed, and that the whole took up a very considerable time 3, which is confirmed from Gen. |. 3. where the nuipar ve awivlse, or the days of mourning, as our translators there render, are said to be seventy days, which were not so many days of mere sor- row, but were the allotted days for the funeral. preparations, and the performance of those pre- vious rites, and religious ceremonies to the body of Jacob deceased, which were usual and cus- tomary among the Egyptians ; and Joseph, as. living among them, or for other reasons, thought fit to follow on this occasion. See Bishop Pa- trick in loc. Our version, therefore, seems again mistaken, when it represents the Egypiians, in so short a time, making lamentations at the graves of the dead, just before their pursuit of the Israelites; which some make to be three days only, others six, after their general cala- mity. -See Usher’s Annals ad an. Mund. 2513.. Herodotus expressly mentions, that till the se- 216 THE BOOK OF WISDOM: CHar. eae venty days for the funeral preparations were expired, éxear aapéndwos ai Cdopuhnorta mud part, He T.As the Egyptians did not put the body into the coffin, lib. ii. c. 86. which seems confirmed from the order observed in Jacob’s burying, which was after the Egyptian manner; for when the set days for the funeral preparations were fulfilled, the sacred text says, they then set forward in order to bury him. The crying, therefore, or lamentation here mentioned, could not be at the graves of the first-born, for it must be much too early in point of time, ac- cording to the best accounts which are given of the Egyptian customs on such occasions ; they seem rather to be crying over the exeguiarum gusta, the preparations they were then making for their future interment, while they were.get- ting things ready, their ointments, spices, gums; linen, and other necessaries for embalming, called rapa, Gen. 1. 2.3; and thus rago¢ itself seems sometimes used. The whole passage may more properly be understood thus: “ While they were busy, and all hands were employed in making the necessary funeral preparations, and were lamenting at or over the provisions making for their embalment and interment ; in the midst of this work, which prescription, pi- ety, and a love for their deceased children, had engaged them in, they set forward, out of re- venge, to pursue the Israelites.” Ibid. They added another foolish device, and pur- sued themas fugitives, whom they had entreated to be gone.].i. e. They on a sudden changed their minds, and foolishly followed a different resolu. tion, and pursued after the Israelites as so many fugitives, not only because they returned not at the time expected, and the labour of so many hands was in danger to be lost; but they re- presented them as robbers, persons who, under the notion of borrowing, had run away with their goods, and spoiled them of their riches and substance: And thus Fugitivus is used fre- quently by the old commedians ; and so, in St Paul’s Epistle to Philemon, where mention is made of Onesimus running away, which St Paul artfully softens, calling it a departing only, it follows after, “ If he have wronged thee,” &c. ver. 18. It was certainly the effect of a divine infatuation, that the Egyptians should pursue after the Israelites so far, and in such a despe- rate manner, when they saw, or might have perceived the Red Sea open her bosom to give passage to God’s chosen. A very learned wri- ter thinks the Egyptians might reason thus: ‘* Who knows whether all Moses’s power be not confined only tothe meridian of Egypt, or whe, ther his commission may extend over Palestine and Median? Probably, though his command was great over the wind and water, over, thie gir and clouds, over the dust of the earth, and over all senseless and irrational creatures si yet’ hy may have no such great command over armies or hosts of men. Upon these, and the like pre. sumptions they became desperately resolute to be avenged upon the Israelites for all the mise. ries and losses which Moses had brought upon them, especially as they knew the Israelites had no skill in arms, and had _ no offensive weapons with them.” Jackson’s Works, tom. iii. ¢. 49, But God gave that great Leviathan Phargoh, for so the Psalmist expressly calls him, and his mighty army, as a prey to the promiscuois sorts of ravenous creatures which inhabit the wil. derness, racts roi¢ Aibiofs, as the LXX express it, Psal. Ixxiv. 14. be Ver. 4. For the destiny whereof they wore worthy, drew them unto this end.) Einxe'aungy atia tri Tero 16 wipae avayxn, i. €. 2 Wretched ‘sti. pidity and fatality possessed them, which ‘hus. ried them on to this, ad hanc rem trahebat, st the Arabic, or to this desperate resolution} end and conclusion of all, and which compk ed all their misfortunes, and made them ‘ip sible of what they had already ‘suffered; that they might fill up the measure of the punish. ment designed them, which was to be ina ¥ely uncommon and exemplary manner: “ For had Pharaoh and his people died of the pestilerise, or other disease, when their cattle perished: the murrain, the terror of God’s powerful had not been so visible to all the world, asi was in the overthrowing the whole strengthjot Egypt at once, which had taken arms, and: theinselves in battle against him; now 3 stronger the infatuation, and the more ignoti- nious and general this destruction of Pharah ~ and his mighty host was, the more was bis, rious power manifested, and the “brighter ‘did the riches of his goodness shine towards his'fi- vourite Israelites, whom no secondary’ meet could have affected so much, as the . perpé memory of this great victory.” Jackson ist to, cit. There is an expression like this a6 pit author’s in Josephus, who, describing the cole mities of his countrymen, under Vespasiany sf Bemnpor]d ves re XpiwS 3 TH Te Gere % avroig non wep. that. they were blinded by that destiny “Ot which hung over them’ and the. city: and same infatuation was upon this people ia obey to their captivity in Babylon, and the dag tian oftheir.city and temple by. the Chaldeans ; and. many. ather examples there are in every age gf the world of such judicial infatuations,. as be- trayed particular persons, ar whole natjons, into that ruin and destruction which God justly de. creed . for. agm. So true is that observation, Quas Jupiter vult perdere, dementat: prius, that . Gad fiyst infatuates those whom he intends to @estray.. , Mer. 5. That thy people might pass a wonder- fal, way.| Tt was likewise through the permis- sign of God that the Israelites were pursued by the Egyptians, that he might shew his power and mercy to them in their great deliverance ; fe the [sraelites were shut up into so narrow a campass by their pursuers, between impassable mountains and the Red Sea, that it was impos- sihle,for,them to have escaped; there was no thought of flying, and as they had no arms, they could not fight; and if they continued where they wee, they must inevitably have been starv- £43.in this strait and danger, Moses, by God’s goomand, strikes the Sea with his rod, and opens a,way through the water for the Israelites’ pas- gage and,escape, called here olorropia mwaparekec, aisuiprizing,,or incredible march. See Joseph. ik €s 15. abeid. But they might find a strange death.] The Bgyptiaesy.when they saw the Israelites march- ing fpeward in the sea, without any inconve- nience. or. impediment, made no doubt but the same way was equally sate for them; they did notepprehend that divine justice had opened His ‘way; at the same time, for the preservation @fsbis chosen, and the destruction of their op- pressors: upon viewing, therefore, the safe pas- sage.of the Israelites, and their successful pro- gress; they, advanced into the sea with the more ‘eagepness, which returned upon them with great vialence,- and destroyed the whole army, that Hota messenger was left to carry the tidings. Josephus computes the number of the Egyptians that perished in the Red Sea to be fifty thousand horsemen, and two hundred thousand foot, and aix-hurdred chariots, Antiq. lib. ii. c. 15. That §uch.an infinite number of persons should perish athe same time, by the return of the mighty waters, amay well be called ferce Saratoc,,a new apd: ani:upusual kind of death, never before heard.of, but at the universal deluge; and the judgment of -God: was:more visible in it, upon account of. the far greater number that were de. sfeoyed, than when the earth opened her mouth aid, awallewed. wp: Corahand his. rebellious Company which the LXX call eéue, an un- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Zeal s usyal sight, and a very -surpnizing accident. God youchsafed the. like favour to the Israelites in the days of Joshua, when the waters of Jor- dan being cut off, and standing upon an heap. the children of Israel passed over it. on drs ground, Josh. iii. 17.. Ver. 6. Lor the whole creature in his proper Aind, was fishioned again anew.) “Ona sh i vhasss. é iia yéver war arabe Sicjumero, 2. e. by a supernatu- ral power from on high. See the like use of avoby, Luke i. 3. John iii, 31. James i. 17. ili, 17. in all which places it is used in the sease of vpardfy. [In the opinion of some. But more probably wrong understood so.}] Junius rendgus “* Tota creatura in suo geriere de integro superne reformabatur ;” and the Syriac and Arabic inter- preters both express awh by superne; ours, and the old English versions follow the Vulgate. The expression of fashioning the creature again anew, -very much resembles the mode of the Hebrew language ; for where mention is made iu Scripture of the Lord’s making a new thing, that is, altering the. course of nature by some miracle, in the Hebrew it is expressed by, the Lord creating a creature. See particularly Numb. xvi. 30. ‘The sense of the passage +here is, that the elements were so altered .in thei operations, and diversified in their. .effects, through the power of God, that there seemed to be, as it were, a. new creation, for there was nothing but miracle, either when God would punish his enemies, or protect his. chasen: or there may be another sense of this place, says Calmet, ‘“ That the creatures seemed to return to their first and primigenial state, in which they were at the beginning of the creation; matter again appeared indifferent to all sorts of forms, so obedient was it to follow and execute all the orders of its Maker ; the elements, in particular, were not any more what they were before, orin times past, but they seemed, as at the beginning, to have assumed a new form, so singular and extraordinary was their power.”’ Comm. in loc. Which I apprehend to be the sense of the Vulgate, though obscurely: expressed. Ver. 7. (As namely) @ cloud shadowing the camp.| Ta tiv aapenGoniy oxialvon repens, according to the Alexand. MS, i. e. the Israclites were kept unhurt by the cloud shadowing the camp, which scems far preferable to the Vatican read- ing. [{But, on second thoughts, cannot be ad- mitted.} There were three several uses of the cloud that attended the Israelites,.1. ‘To guide them in their journeys; and this it did as a pillar going before sa 2. To preserve them le 218 from the heat of the sun in the wilderness; and then it wes spread out like a covering, Psal. cy. 38. and was a cloud shadowing the camp in this sense. 3. It served to defend them from their enemies, that they might not be able to assault them; and so it stood between the host of Israel and that of the Egyptians, and was a cloud of darkness to the Jatter, hindering them from any approach to the Israelites in their pursuit after them, Exod. xiv. 20. This last sense seems most proper to this place. | have before observed (see note on chap. x. ver. 17.) that this miracle has been greatly misrepresent- ed by some modern freethinkers, as if there was not any real cloud, but only an occasional fire made by the Israelites, for a blind to their ene- mies, and to lead them into a mistake; but not only this writer, and the son of Sirach, Ecclus xxiv. 3, 4. but the inspired penmen make this cloud to be supernatural, the ‘work of the divi- nity itself, Numb. aiv. 14. Psal. Ixxviii. 14. xcix. 7. cv. $Y. Philo in particular, who speaks the sense of the Jewish synagogue and Alex- andrian schools, speaks thus of the cloudy pillar and the Israelites deliverance: ** God does not succour or save in any such sort as man ; it is peculiar to him to interpose his omnipotence where all human means fail.” And according- ly he makes this whole matter miraculous, con- ducted by an invisible angel, and the cloud so thick and extensive, as even to cover the face of heaven, De vita Mosis. From this extraor- dinary and supernatural cloud we may derive probably that part of poetical machinery of the heathen deities appearing in, or with a cloud, so frequent to be met with in profane writings. Ibid. And where water stood before, dry land appeared; and out of the Red Sea, a way without impediment ; and out of the violent stream, a green Jeld.} \t would be more properly rendered, In the Red Sea, or through it, was there a way made, without any danger or impediment.” And thus the Psalmist, “ He led them through the deep, as through the wilderness,” aSsynoe aurus iy abuecw, ws iv ipnuw, according tothe LXX Psal. cvi. 9. and the Syriac renders, in like manner, “* Aperta est in Mari Rubro via ex- pedita,” and so do the Old English versions. But, according to this writer, God not only made a passage for his people in or through the Red Sea, by gathering the waters thereof to- gether into heaps, whereby the dry land ap- peared, as in the beginning when the earth came from the boson of the waters, Gen. i. 9. but he adorned their way by a beautiful ap- THE BOOK OF WISDOM. pearance of hérbs and flowers. [*'Our-6fid Red Sea—and out’ df ‘the oleae sebtn oaks literal translation, ‘and’ not ‘amiss!2")# he have been. continued in:the samé form in’ Bia, the foregoing clause is rendered : “Ate yhite water stood before, dry land appeared’ Qha where the Red Sea was,” there a Wayeinh. out impediment appeared ;” and wher: W4. ent stream, there a field bearing grass asipeite (or, was seen, eBewopnOn.) It is not xruptr oidiir'p green tredd, but Xronpepor, Lrass bearing {Bur Ge cannot properly be rendered, zm’ the "Red S& or through it, was there a way made. For; that though it be true, is not the meaning dF ‘the Greck here.] Some have represented thfs*ay'4 real description of the bottom of the RedSd’ but it seems rather to be a conceit founded hp: on some Rabbinical tradition, or'an hyperbdf and exaggeration, to express the happy ‘suddbs, of the Israelites, and the easiness of théivigy. sage ; for there is no foundation ‘any: ‘whelef Scripture for such a notion, nor in aity Kisth of good authority. Pliny indeed mention® the Red Sea was in many places interspersed: with trees, and some of them bearing: fénit! at had the appearance of a floating’ wood!“Ray rum mare, & totus Orientis oceanus refertuget sylvis,’ lib. xiii. c. 25. But this, if trie, wold rather hinder and obstruct the’ Isratlités spit sage, than any ways contribute to forwarth it: It is remarkable that Josephus, when He Wd scribes this very surprising and ‘extraofting ' march of his countrymen througli the ReaS4, extenuates the miracle undesignedly bythe very comparison, which he brings to THGSteAe it, and lessens the wonder of the fact, while would accommodate it to the heathet's' fullllS « he was afraid lest the Gentiles should‘sétuple to believe, that the unruly waves “of "thé sea gave back at the shaking of a rod, or the'toice ofa man ; and therefore to make this the indre easily believed, he intimates very injadiciously, that this passage of the Israelites was like that of Alexander the Great and his companions through the Pamphylian sea: “ Whether, says he, the thing was dane by God’s extraordit ry will and appointment, or by the course of 32 ture, no man ought so to wonder, as if. it-were a thing unheard of, that the sea should nfake way for the men of those old and. innocent (umes, when, but the other‘day'as it weresthe Pamphylian ocean gave way to ‘Alexander and his followers, rather than'any thing should*bit der‘the design which God had purposed topit a period to the kingdom of Persias?>“Annq lib.:ij..cpl6; But.that this. passage of Alex- ander and. hig companions ought not to be com- pared; much less equalled with this of, the Is- vaelites. through, the Red Sea, appears from Strabo, who.acquaints us, that where Alexander and his men passed over, there was a narrow passage.upon the. shore, which, at a low ebb is so, dry, or the waters however so low, that they may. be passed over on foot. Lib. xiv. and Plut.in Vit. Alexand. But there is no ground to suppose any reflux of the waters, or narrow passage of the Red Sea to help the Israelites over. Mer. 8. Seetng thy marvellous wonders. Greek Sigphsarlc Savpasa ripare, having seen wonderful prodigies. | ers 9. For they went at large like horses.} "D6.98 tae teundncar which is the reading of the Vatican copy, and of the Alexand. MS. The generality of commentators understand this of the, Israelites exulting for the great plenty of mgnna which God vouchsafed them in the wilderness,.and that by it they grew wanton, like horses high fed. Others confine the sense to,.the, joy expressed by them for their unex pected deliverance, sporting themselves, xao1pepa adie, ver.,7> like horses at full liberty. Bad- well. prefers éxpeuéricar, hinniebant, which, he says, 1s.the. reading of the most correct copies, (of which: however there is no mention in the Var...Lect..of Bos.) and with him agree Vata- blus and. the Geneva version, 7. e. That the Is- taclites:neighed, rejoiced, and wantoned. like horses coming to a green fresh pasture, after having been long kept up and confined in the _§table. This simile is beautifuily expressed by Homer in the following lines : 0g 8 bre tig ccerts Vrmos, kxosnous tnt Qeéryny Atopy doroppitecs Serer wediore xgowivar. Ejulas Aveah tuppeses welecpeoio, Kudawr Pe 5 meien tyer, dedi 5 yairas "OQ peoss atos ov) 63 ey rainQs mtoroibas, "PiePac t ryBvce Diges petled 1° btce x5 vepcor twmay. Il. vi. ver. 506. which beautiful comparison Virgil has happily imitated: Qualis ubi abruptis fugit prasepia vinclis °” Tandem liber Equus, campoque potitus aperto, ' Aut ille'in pastus drméntaque tendit equarum, Aut assuetus aque perfundi flumine noto i Emicat, arrectisque fremit cervicibus alte i Launurians ; luduntque jube per colla, per arwios. (Sith “1 rbagzol fs j , wi ees En. lib. Xl. Thare| isthe same simile, and. upon.the very same. O¢easion, isa. xiii.) (2, 12. where God .1s described ‘as;-coriducting the Israelites by the THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 219 ‘right hand of Moses, ‘* With his glorious arm dividing the water before thern, to make him- self an everlasting name, leading them through the deep as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble.” See Habak. iii. 15. Ibid. And skipped like lambs.] The Israelites are frequently represented in Scripture as a flock under the conduct of their shepherd Mo- ses: They are so described Isa. Ixili. 9, If. Psal. Ixxvii. 20. Ixxviii, 52. Eugley, by which the joy of the Israelites is expressed, properly belongs to beasts, and is here, by an elegant metaphor, applied to persons. See Mal. iv. 2. in the LX X, Luke vi. 23. and in the same man- ner it is used by Euripides. Tt was thus Da- vid expressed his joy before the ark, by bound- ing and springing from the ground by the most sprightly and playful motion, 2 Sam. vi. 16. remarkable in, and peculiar to the lamb and the deer: In like manner we find the passions of men frequently applied to beasts, and even inanimate things, both in sacred and profane writings. Ibid. Praising thee, O Lord, who hadst deli- vered them.] his blessing of their deliverance from the dangers of the Red Sea, and the visi- ble overthrow of all their pursuers in it, was so unexpected and acceptable, that the Israel- ites spent that whole night in hymns and thanksgivings to God. Moses, in particular, composed a song, Exod. xv. (which many learn- ed men suppose to be in hexameter verse, Jo- seph. Antiq. lib. ii. cap, ult. Euseb. Aa Evangel. lib. xi. c. 3.) to the honour of God upon this joyful occasion, and in’ memory of their great escape from the violence of the waves, through his Almighty power, which the waters saw, were afraid of, and retired, Psal. Ixxvii. 16. ‘* Refluum trepidavit aquor,”’ as Cowley well expresses it. This mercy of God to the Jewish nation, and his command over the insensible and unruly element, is fine- ly displayed in Psal. cxiv. ** When Israel came out of Egypt, and the house: of Jacob from among the strange people, Judah was his (God’s) sanctuary, and Israel his dominion, The sea saw that, é. e. perceived his presence, and fled.” At the fifth verse, the question is asked by one part of the choir, ** what aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou Heddesv 2”? Ti cof ést, Sdrasox, ors tpvyes. And the answer is very beau tifully returned’ by the other, according to the LXX version (for this is one of thosé Psalms that was sung aliernately) a72 asésdaw Kus toot eu 94. vi, amt wpoowme te Ow Iaxo6, ver. 7. Lac. . 224 tantius represents the Israelites as conducted through the Red Sea by an angel, or rather: the angel, so often spoken of in the Old Tes- tament, ‘+ In qua eductione ostendit virtutem majestatis snz Deus. ‘Trajecit enim populum medio Mari Rubro, pravedente Angelo, & scindente aquam, ut populus per siccum gradi possit,”’ Lact. De vera Sapient. hb. iv. the same divine person, whom Clemens. Alexan- drinus calls Musixée “Ay/txee, and supposes to be the conductor of Israel out of Egypt. Virgil has a thought which very much resembles the Scripture account of this miracle, where he makes the goddess Cyrene in the beautiful epi- sode of Aristzeus, to divide the waters for his passage, and even to compel them to stand on an heap, as the Psalmist expresses it, Simul alta jubet discedere laté Flumina, qua Juvenis gressus inferret, at illum Carvata in Montis faciem circumstetit unda, Accepitque sinu vaste. Georg. iv. ver. 339. Ver. 10. For they were yet mindful of the things that were done while they sojourned (in the strange Jand.)] "Futuro 8 tre tov iv th Gapoxie avror. ‘The words in the parenthesis are added by our translators for explanation sake, -and are pro- periy enough inserted, to confine the sense to what happened in their sojourning in Exypt. The place itself may be differently interpreted, according as we understand it of the Israelites, as on the banks of the Red Sea, immediately after their passage ; or of them after their con- tinuance in the wilderness for some considera- ble time. If taken in the former sense, is it any wonder that the Israelites should be yet mindful of the plagues of Egypt which were so very lately inflicted, and some indeed but Just passed, and all of them together accord- ing to the learned Usher’s account, Ann. ad A. M. 2513. lasted barely a month, and even according to the Jewish computation, which is the longest, not a twelve month. Some critics therefore understand tz here, which the Ori- ental versions wholly omit, in the sense of moreaver, or besides, * that in the midst of their triumph tor their present deliverance it was an increase of their joy, when they remembered be- sides in how many other instances Ged had in- terposed in their favour when they were in Egypt, and the signal difference he made in the executicn of his plagues, between the Egyptians and his chosen.” Or it may be understood of the Israclites after their continuance for some considerable time in the wilderness, “© Lnat the sense of the many signal mercies which God had vouchsafid to then in their Egyptian ben. THE BOOK OF WISDOM. | Cx. Yang dage, was not yet obliterated ; they comy the plagues inflicted on: their enernies with the. many blessings conferred: upon themselves: how the river Nile, contrary to its nature,.way troubled with foul blood ; and instead: of which it furnished before in great abundance; and was indeed the usual food of the inhabja’ tants, Numb. xi. 5. cast tortii disagreeable shoals of frogs, Exod. viii. That the soikeg Egypt, rich and fruitful as it was, instead of cattle and creatures useful, bred venomous flies, and swarmed with noxious and destrug tive animals. ‘They remembered how, through the providence of God, and his distinguishing care over them, they were free at the same time from the general calamities ; and whemthe earth and water both conspired to plague the Egyptians, those very elements favoured: the Israelites, the former in supplying them with food, and the latter by opening a passage for them.” [For tuéurczo » "ETI—I believe theay. thor wrote”HAH rar, &c. as Xvili. 9. (Hakpor" Hae Gpoarauerworlor, Sc. For now they remembered’ the things that had. befallen them: while-t Were sojourners. The mistake might artse‘ftom. the likeness of the sound in ¢m and aby: (And this has happened to other authors.in these same words, } “m Ibid. How the ground brought forth fiesin. - stead of cattle.) “Vhe marginal reading is, fos, ‘* What is more despicable, says Philo; thania louse? and yet of such force and moment did these vermin prove, as even to extort from: the Egyptians an open confession and:acknowledge ment that this was the finger of God, who cm make the most inconsiderable creatures become: terrible, when appointed to execute his vet , geance.” De vita Mosis, lib. 1. Our version here is not very accurate, or rather this-writer, for the ground in reality, does not bring forth flies, much less cattle ; the meaning 1s, and the sense is more natural and just, that the ground was so disposed by God, as to be @ proper nidus for the generation of flies, but did not afford its usual nourishment for the support and increase of cattle. This explication is fa- voured by Psal. civ. 14. where the Psalmist enumerating the gracious dispensations- of God's’ providence, says, ** He bringeth forth. grass for the cattle; and immediately after; he*ls said to bring, tayayéy, (the word here’ used) bread and wine out of tue earth, for the com- fort and refreshment of men ; where the sens is not, that God bringeth these good creatures themselves immedia.cly out of the earth; but: makes it {ruittul, and disposes it in a mannet Grav. NIX. proper for the producing them. ["Arz? yeréeeee tsar oxtwet ** Flies instead of animals, of living creatures.” Asif flies were not living créa- tures or (ez. This is a strange passave, unless the context be faulty. From the word t%car, in the opposite part of the sentence, it should seem, that, insteatl of Ccor, he ought to have written xepcaior. So ver. 19. Xepraia ~ ere "ENY- APA peleCaaatfo. | Ver. 11. Bat afterwards they saw a new géne- ration of, fowls, when, being led with their ap- petite, they asked delicate meats.| The mean- ing here is, that, as the ground was so dispos- ed as to bring forth flies, and the river frogs, for the punishment of the Egyptians in an un- precedented manner, so, to shew his favour to the Israelites, God furnished them in the wil- derness with a new sort, or generation of fowls for their entertainment. But we are not to imagine that the quails, which are the fowls here referred to, were, at that time, a species new created, or miraculous, as having never before existed: the expression is figurative, -atyd intimates, either that these birds were in ‘the desert, where they did not use to appear, or that they were mew with respect to the [s- raelites, or that the manner of their appearing in such large flocks was unusual. Moses, who mentions this after a more simple manner, says only, that a wind from the Lord carried thenr. into the wilderness, and made them fall round about the tents of the Israelites. Jose- phus supposes these’ birds to come from the ‘Arabian gulf, and then adds very odly, that they were so tired with crossing it, that they dropt down, being quite weary, into the camp ofthe Hebrews. Antiq. lib iit. c. 1. as if it was likely that they should be tired just at that particular spot, and could not fly further, or stop shorter, or that God himself, by whose orders they were sent, had not directed their course, and appointed where they sliould fall. This seems another instance, where Josephus, by attempting a solution, extenuates the miracle. Ver. 12. For quails came up unto them from the sea for their contentment.] El¢ wapapubiay avi Cn avroig ard Saracene ofluycuirpe. There is no ne- cessity for supposing, as some have fancifully done, that one particular bird, the guide and. conductor of a great number that followed is here meant, for épruyoutzpa, by synecdoche, is put for a multitude of them. Instances of this are frequent in the sacred writings, particularly in. the Scripture account of the plagues of Egypt ; thus, where itis said.in our. version, that,the frogs THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 221 éathe up, and covered the land, the LXX render, "AnsEiBaodn d Baron yes, 4 ixanufe thy yar Alyva}e, Exod. viii. G. and so it isin the Hebrew. And, in the description of the plague of lice, Exod. viii. 17. the Hebiew again expresses it by the singular number. - The like may be observed of the lo- casts, which, though they are described as co- vering the face of the whole earth, and darken- ing the land through the infinity of their num- ber, Exod, x. 12, 14. yet, in the original, are mentioned only as one, ¢he locust. And the LXX express it in like manner, ‘Ava€izw axgic txt thy piv... 2s. mpcliga auriig W yeyore ToravTn axpic, % eehe ravrx wx tsutros. [It should be observed that the good Greek writers, when a word in the singular number is used for a multitude of any kind, | believe always place an article be- fore that word, aS 1 trzoc, & onairug, for of imma (or 4 iam Suvaurc) of owairas, BC, Our author had omitted the article before in this same word, chap. xvi. 2. and ver. 10. of this xixth chapter, cxrire for riv cxvima, though there, indeed, he is acquitted by the Alexand. and Complut. which. read onizas.] Ver. 13. And punishments came upon the sin- ners, not without former signs, by the force of’ thunders.) The rendering of the Geneva bible is more intelligible here, ** But punishments came upon the sinners, not without signs, that were given by great thunderings, which seems pre- ferable too, as it preserves the Opposition bet- ter, and the Syriac and Arabic render. in like- manner. 4 cannot agree with those interpre- ters, that would refer this. passage to the deso- lation occasioned by the strange lightning and. hail, mentioned chap. xvi. 22. for then the pointing should be different, nor do we read of any signs preceding: that plague... 1 am more inclined to understand it of the great overthrow in the Red Sea, ** That as God had given. the Israelites many. tokens and proofs of his favour, to encourage their trust and dependance upon him, so with respect to the Egyptians, called here emphatically. é#e senners, their sad catas- trophe came not upon them without warning, and the notice of foreboding thunders.” ‘This is agreeable to- what Josephus writes, ‘* That this judgment. was preceded. with ficrce winds and tempests,. violent.storms.of hail and rain, and ‘terrible thunderings and lightnings.” An- tiq. lib. ii. chap. 16. And this probably is meant by those words of Moses, that the ** Lord troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took, off their chariot wheels, that they drave them. heavily,” Exod. xiy. 94, And to this, learned THE BOQK men apply those words of the Psalmist, «¢ The clouds poured out water, the air thundered, and thine arrows went abroad: the voice of thy thunder was heard round about, (where the LXN read very remarkably, govi ris Bporric se ix ta, Teexa, rote Curruum, according to the Vulgate) the lightnings shone upon the ground, the earth: was moved, and shook withal,’’ Psal. Ixxvii. 17, 18. See De Muis, Hammond, Pa- trick in ioc. Ibid. For they suffered justly, according to their own wickedness, insomuch as they used a more hard and hateful behaviour towards stran- gers.| The sense of this whole verse, according to Grotius, is, that the punishment of the Egyp- tians did not happen to them without proper warning of the consequence of their inhuman behaviour, which they might have learnt from the punishment of the people of Sodom in par- ticular, whom the Lord destroyed with fire from heaven for their great wickedness and inhospi- tality. And indeed their punishment is ex- pressly mentioned by St Peter, as a designed example of God's vengeance upon the ungodly to all future ages. Calmet’s Exposition is to the same purpose, ‘ That the goodness of God had a long time before given notice to the E- gyptians of the misfortunes which threatened them, by the thunder and fire from heaven, which fell upon the Sodomites for their inhu- manity towards strangers, in which the Egyp- tians imitating, or rather exceeding them, might have read their own fate.”” Comm. in loc. Philo speaks of their behaviour towards the Jews in like manner, and takes notice of the like aggra- vating circumstances, Siva near oi Ivbdaio 2... % TpOmOy tia ixétar, x. 7. a. “ Judeei, exteri & hos- pites erant (cum auctores generis fame coacti per inopiam alimentorum Babylone, & ex su- perioribus satrapiis profecti in AZgyptum demi- grassent) & quodam modo supplices, tanquam in Asylum sacrum, ad fidem regis, & incolarum misericordiam confugerant .... Eos igitur qui Patriam reliquerant, in AEgyptum advenerant, ut in altera patria tuto habitaturi, Regionis Im- perator servilem in modum vexabat, & tanquam Belli jure captos, aut tanquam vernas de justo domino emptos opprimebat, & pro mancipiis ha- bebat, qui non modo liberi erant, verum etiam hospites, supplices, inquilini, mox etiam jussa supra vires imperabat, laborem labore alio su- binde cumulans, deficientesque ferrum sequeba- tur.” De vita Mosis. See also Orig. cont. Cels. lib. ili. c. 114. [Grotius and Calmet saw the true sénse and design of this passage: But the inter- 222 QF, WISDOM. Gust: RRS” pretation they give of. it cannot ver aga the present context ;. which, at ver23,, thus.: Ovx crev -reig apoytforoow, rer Texuypigy ov xepaurer. Where, instead of sip. a author wrote 7zar MEpQUTIO?, falmine actorsny flog & xepaunas, see Hesychius. The, .translaien this: “ Not without the signs which, former befe] the violent Sodomites, who . were. destea ed by thunder :” That is, the Egyptians, sufficient warning, if they would have takenit of the punishment of inhospitality, and the.wiay lation of strangers, from what befel the, ites, who were killed by thunder and lightping upon that account. Ty Aie rér xepaunar, fon Biaiog xegavriug : Which is a very usual:way writing in all authors, sacred and. profane, popty. and prose writers. ] aes Ver. 14. But these brought friends, into, dage that had well deserved of them.] 0u701 fy. yitag binge tuna}, 1. e. ‘ These made, slayesagt strangers that had been benefactors.to-themy, Coverdale’s and the Geneva Bibles render. th more propriety, “ brought the strangeny injp Soieare that did them good.” For the Dee tians, after having received great adv; from Joseph, especially, in the time of Eaves and from the Israelites in general. by..thea provement of their land; after having, wy Jacob’s family to settle among them, and great rejoicings at their coming, at lengty though they were incorporated, .. perf ‘en treated them with unheard of severities... 4: Ver. 15, 16. And not only so,. butper ture sume respect shall be had of those, becgus they used strangers not kindly; but theses grievously afflicted them, whom they had ree with feastings, and were already made.partakes,, of the same laws with them.) The. meaning that it was some mitigation of the fault tale Sodomites, or that some regard, . iqunertity chap. iv. 15. ought to be had to them pa} account, because the unkind treatment,t were guilty of was done to persons unknayny foreigners, and such as had no civil ar, pp}it relation to them: But.the Egyptians,¢p those whom they had invited, that, were admitted among them, that lived underthes2hifs roofs, were governed by the same. laws,an¢pafi takers of the same common rights, ang BUM leges. This explication. is .according fs reading of the Vatican copy, which,,@rosih thinks corrupt here, and _has attempted 49 Hn store the text thus Kel ¥ dror, ann ft 75 ag ts auroig txei arex Gcac a pooedéxoro THC, GMA (ear p egpl Tei ATE K VNC TPOTEVENON{O THS, KRACE 1a toflacuater ea deZaitvory, Ke Ta de Ay Oe sedis the Cride. MEX. doitesder'ved'to be punished for using’ stran- geis’so*inhospitably, the Egyptians did much tnoré, who evil entreated such as were inmates, ftighbours, friends. And thus éxoxori i$ used bY this Writer, chap. xiv. 1r. This conjecture €almet' approves of, as making the sense clear- éri?and agreeing better with the context. It may’ be proper to observe, that the comparison, Which runs here in favour of the Sodomites, must be confined to the single point of their de- nying assistance to such as were mere strangers, and quite unknown ; for considering their ge- neral ‘behaviour to the angels after Lot had re- ceived them, which was the greatest breach of hospitality,:and their unnatural designs upon ther, which was an attempt of the greatest wic- kedness, no behaviour of the Egyptians could be'sohateful, nor any action so criminal. Our transtatdrs probably were sensible of this, when they inserted peradventure, in the text, which ha$'‘nothing to answer it in the original [’Aax TE Yalexer—Perhaps for aan’ ic. tig émicxorn, 1. e. tle! forte: For the word ices was wont to be wiitteh “by abbreviation in that manner. “ But pebhkps’ Some favour will be shewed to the So- ddinites, since: those, whom they used so hate- filly? Vere: unknown to them.” Our translation tb rétidets it, But peradventure. 1 do not un- - Abisiank"Grotius’s conjecture, unless fs be a fhistake of the press for isw. Tes wyrot/lac, rather AvuWMubec. But the true reading, I believe, is, mic ‘dyrarae; the same as rvs cyrovuires.] “Vers 17. Therefore even with blindness were these Attricken, as those were at the doors of the Aiybteous man, when, being compassed about with horrible great darkness, every one sought the pas- Sage of bis own doors.| The Vatican copy reads, “Bhahth Yor aurs Sugar riv dfodor Kare. “ Every one sftght ‘the passage, not of his own, but of the rightediis tnan’s doors.” And this indeed seems td'bé the sense of the fact, as it is recorded, Get? xix.'r1. where it is said, “ That they wea- Héd'themselves to find out the door:” See Pitr. ih loc. Our translators followed a copy Whicly read, “rxasoe rar tavls Supav viv Siodor iCirer 5 Which is’the: reading of the Alexandrian MS. atid” of ‘the ‘Syriac and Arabic versions, and is indéed ‘tess doubtful and ambiguous. Accord- ing this redding, the sense is whether we un- tatid ‘the place of the’ Sodomites or Egyp- Hand, that they were so confounded with an ex- cess Of blifi@ness, that they could: not-find out even their own doors. The Greek text} both here and in* Genesis :xix. expresses this blind- ness DY depaca in the singular number but the “THE BOOK OF WISDOM. 223 original in the latter has 5lindnesses in the plu- ral, and the Jerusalem Targum renders, in like manner, by Caccitatibus, which denotes very great and extreme blindness. ‘Thus where the prophet mentions bitter weeping, Jerem. xxxi. 15. as our translators render, in the original is, Weeping of bitternesses, fletus amaritudinuim, ac- cording to the interlineary version, which the evangelist expounds, “ Weeping and _ great mourning,’ Matth. ii. 18. According to some, the Hebrew etymology of Sodom, implies dark- ness. See Philo De confus. Linguar. Hesychiits in voce Zcloua. Ver. 18. For the elements were changed in themselves by a kind of harmony, like as, ina psaltery, notes change the names of the tune, and yet are always sounds, which may well be perceived by the sight of the things that have been done.) Al tavfor 8 ra soryerax pebapuoouerz, omen ty Laalngio PAeysor re fudus ro trome Yraradoover, were pirovda ty nx, trey isiy danoas tx rig Tay yelovorer ¢ Lewe anos. This, is the reading, according to Grabe’s edi- tion, but the Vatican has pirorJa nye, omitting the preposition ; pebapuotouere is not well render- ed, changed by a kind of hurmony, nor & tavjar, in themselves: Nor do they thus give any idea that is clear or consistent, uelapuotiuera denoting rather change-of order and disposition, (from pdapuste éransmuto adaptando aliter, )and &i taviay, throughout; or among themselzes, which is a bet- ter rendering. Nor is our version more happy in applying aarJde ucvorJa tv dx, to piéyJo, which very manifestly relates to the elements, to the sorgere wclapuotuerx, and not to sounds. For the sense is, (which will still be clearer, by putting the simile in’a parenthesis,) that the change, or new disposition of the elements among them- selves, which is described in the three following verses, occasioned no disorder or confusion, but the elements, notwithstanding their changing place, preserved that harmony which is peculiar to them, maviole pévor/]n ty nxn, always continuing in concert. As ina psaltery, or instrument of music, by the different movement of the strings the tune is diversified; and.the name or kind of. the measure or mode, the 73 juduy rove is thereby altered: As among the Greeks there were ‘dif- ferent names for their different modes, Phrygian, Dorian, Lydian ; and the same occurs among the Hebrews, who intimate every such irannayi- Héavs, or change of mudulution, by the term Se/ah, which the LXX: very properly render Sepaane, See Phavorinus, and Suidas in voce. [Av tala, Hebapuo?onere, scil. 4v* Which word is either dropt out of the! context, or must be understood to 224 make constructica, which cannot subsist withe outit. So ch. iv. 15. rie for eve oar, OF die. See the Note there, w xafavialar, for xaffi- miner, ch. Svit. 16, kv exer and nr oped yer, for xs and aw poiiye, Mark x. 22, 32. Ai tavlor pebape weduere is, were shified into each other's plage. Ai here implies alternation. Inter se wviceu cransmutabantur, lalde dole ivnxe, alouys con- tinuing in sound. ‘The word yéorjx cannot belong to 7a sorvex, because the elements, earth, fire, and water, of which he is speaking, cannot, with any sense, be said to continue 7 sound, which is the signification of & nye, not in con. cert, which would be é cuuper’z. Nor is there, at présent, any other word in the sentence with which gziola can agree. And this observation, I think, easily leads to the true reading and pointing of the passage: A/ tavar 5p ra sorxere [ar] mba role mers (comp ty War)ngio pioylor re fudjs To tropa Siaragaowor, warlole pévorles tv vxw) omen Esw erxaoa, &c. The interpretation and sense is this: “ For the elements were shifted into each other’s place, and yet continued to act, though in a different manner, (asin a psaltery different sounds change the name of the music, and yet all the while continue sounding,) as may be perceived by the careful view (i ris dftue axpiSes) of what then happened. For land creatures were changed into watery ; and those that used to swim passed over to land. The fire had power in the water, forgetting its own qualities; and the water for- got its quenching nature. On the other hand, the flames,” &c, Omit the parenthesis, and the connection will be very clear: Which is a sure mark how the passage ought to be pointed. In- stead of 78 drug, it might be read riv rower, which will make just the same sense.] The elements are always a kind of emblem of the harmony of sounds, which they presery- ed under this new change, as in their natu- ral state ; for such a transitory alteration occa- sioned no more jarring in the system and order of the world, than different sounds arising from the several strings of an instrument, cr from symphonies and voices of all pitches disturb the melody of music, which the variety rather per- fects than confounds. Seneca has finely de- scribed this agreeable and regular confusion, “* Nonne vides quam multorum vocibus chorus constat? Unus tamen ex omnibus sonus reddi- tur. Aliqua illic acuta est, aliqua gravis, aliqua media. Accedunt viris foeminz, interponuntur tibia, singulorum ibi latent voces, omnium ap- parent.” Epist. xlviii. which Philo, borrowing the thought from the terms of music, as beau- THE BOOK GF. WISROM. tifully expresses concerning the natural world, v i qvag.... zr euyparlange vee & fravlwdizay papyacanérn, De Mose, bus seg in this sense we are apt to understand Homan, where he makes Jupiter, the Lord of nattipg, pleased with the discord of the gods, iad: xm: that is, according to Eustathius,..with the juyag: of earth, sea, and air, &c. because the. hamnag 4 of all beings arises from that discord: Dh earth is opposite to water, air to earth, and water to them all; and yet from this Opposition arisgs that discordant concord by which all nature subsists. Thus heat and cold, moist and: dey. are in 4 continual war; yet upon this depe the fertility of the earth, and the beauty of} creation..—-But there may, perhaps, anothep sense be given of this passage of our author’suifi We consider fv§uis as meaning a set of measure or musical sounds, ranged at certain proportion, ed intervals, answering to our scale. in musigg. for the ancients seem to have had several jul, or scales, to which the sounds or strings, ofidig ferent harps were proportioned and adjusted: and o%cyJo: 7s juJuse together, may imply thedife ferently proportioned intervals of the measuged scale, or jv@uic, which the strings, producing,that sounds, are set to, and adjusted by.. Apdsthe different sets of sounds, proportioned.to, thecds ferent fvJuci, changed the kind of the museum produced ditferent zeve:, or modes, which, Ag toxenus and Euclid make to be thirteea,s Ptolemy only seven. See Plato De Leggs lahstiji- Eucl. Wepi cpuo. H. Steph. Greek Lenten i that it is not improbable but that the traesgsda, ing of this simile may be deat ty Lartnlgip iy re pubes rover Siaaracover, warlole, OF warta Be edt yal nx». Which still heightens the musical .allusgg and the sense of the whole verse as -followy; “ For the elements were transposed amoug.thpmty selves without losing their proper harmony, #f' in a psaltery, or ancient harp, the sounds of tha harmonic scale, new proportioned among. theqfy selves, change the mode of the music, apd: all continues regular and in tune:” Wh one may guess to be the ¢hen state of the:-ele ments, éx ric rev yefovorwr. CYtws axgiCuc, 1. ey fromag accurate view and examination of wha a happened, for so [ would chuse to rendes with? Junius, than to understand axpCac adverbialliy’ and apply it to exec, as our translators do.W which it does not properly accord. I shall onl: observe farther, that.as the ancient philesopiegy frequently compare the symmetry. of the woald to a concert of fine music, (see Plut,ia lib. De. Mus. Macrob, in Soman. Scip.) which, though of see os s} Gaby. RIX. acompounded nature, and admitting of a great varsety.of:notes and changes, is nevertheless ra- vishing and beautiful ; so this writer manifestly adeptsihere the same thought, and applies it to whatshappened in Egypt, and in the desert; aad from hence illustrates God’s dealings with the-israclites and the Egyptians, whose miracles, Whether displayed in the way of judgment or mercy, though they over-ruled the powers of nature, yet no ways disconcerted the regular and beautiful order of it. Ver. 19. For earthly things were turned into watery, and the things that before swam in the mater, mow went upon the ground.| i.e. Both the Israelites and their cattle passed through the Red Sea itself, as safe as on dry ground, and thie frogs, leaving the waters, not only overspread the land of Egypt, but entered into the houses of the Egyptians, and even into their king’s chambers, Psal. cv. 30. Ver. 20. The fire had power in the water, for- getting his own virtue ; and the water forgat his own quenching nature.| This refers to the plague of rain, hail, and fire mixed with it, mentioned before. It is observable, that in this plague, God made use of three of the elements at one time, as his instruments of vengeance. For, as the Egyptians had a conceit that there were many_local-deities, some presiding over the air, others over:'the waters, some celestial, and others .tuling eyer the earth ; hence Jehovah, the only true God, thought it necessary to assert his own unity, and:shew the immensity and universality of:his dominion and power, by commanding at the same time so many of the elements to fulfil his will in chastising this rebellious people. See Note on ch. xvi. ver. 16, 17, 18. Ver. 21. On the other side the flames wasted not the flesh of the corruptible living things, though they walked therein.] [Evp%glar Goer, of animals easily to be destroyed.| The flames were miti- gated that they might not burn up the beasts that were sent against the ungodly, as the author expresses himself in ch. xvi. 18. According to the description here given of the corruptible living things, it seems most agreeable, to under- Stand the locusts in particular, (though even these cannot strictly be supposed then existing, nor does the Mosaic account countenance any such long continuance of them, see note on the place refefred to) which are described as a nation by the prophet Joel, and their march, like that of an army, for desolation. The Syriac version seems to confirm this sense, “ Bestias vastatrices flamma non exussit,” which suits with the cha- THE BOOK OF ‘WISDOM. 225 racter given in history of these mischievous and destructive creatures. Ibid. Neither melted they the icy kind of hea- venly meat that was of nature apt to melt.) [oust zaxlir tvrmxlor, &c. There seems to be no manner of necessity for these two epithets almost equivalent. It looks as if one of them was owing to a various reading taken into the con- text, as just before, instead of «wexprar Aldus’s edit. has ¢4xflo. Our translation, which has, melted, either fetched the word iuaparay trom the former. part of the verse, or, instead of uit rnxJcv, perhaps read v3’ tznxoy, sc. proyee, Which I should prefer to the vulgar reading : ou)’ trxxov xpusanncedic evrnxoy yéres, &c. which is the order of the words in the best copies, Alexand. Complut. Ald.] The fire had no power over the same manna, which the sun could easily dissolve in the field. Manna is here called icy, not only from its re- sisting the fire, but from its being generated in, or by the air, or from its resembling in smallness the hoar frost on the ground ; the Geneva Bible renders, “ Neither melted they that which seem- ed to be ice, and was of a nature that would melt, and yet was an immortal meat.”” As Am- brosia was supposed to be the food of the gods, so manna, as coming down from heaven, or, ac- cording to others, as being the bread of angels inhabiting there, is called ’AuCpost« zropi by this writer, and by Philo # vparie rpop. See notes on ch. xvi. From the use of this word, and some others drawn from the heathen writings, Calmet infers our author’s acquaintance with them. The LXX, and the Vulgate, have taken the same liberty of borrowing words from the poets, even in parts of the inspired writings. ‘Thus Job jx. g. they insert the names of Pleiades, Hyades, and Arcturus. And inch. xlit. 14. they call the name of Job’s third daughter, xépa¢ A pandatac, the horn of Amalthea, alluding: to the Grecian fable, which arose long after Job’s time. Ver. 22. For in all things, O Lord, thou didst magnify thy people, and glorify them, neither didst thou lightly regard them, but didst assist them in every tine and place.| What our author here adds, of God’s having magnified and glorified the Israelites in all things, and assisted them in every time and place, is another instance of Jewish opiniatry and conceit. See note on ch. x. 15. It is according to the sentiment of that people, who imagined themselves to be the only beloved of God, that they had an unchangeable interest in him, and that no neglect or undutiful behaviour of theirs could alienate them from his favour, or make him become their encmy, and a 226 reject them ; that God would never punish his own people in covenant with him, and who were called by his name, in any such severe manner, as to make them examples to all other nations, and nothing could ever persuade them that their city, or temple should actually be destroyed ; but notwithstanding their boasted interest, fancied alliance, and fond dependance upon their adoption and privileges, God, at length, thought fit to reject them, and has set a mark upon them, like the curse of Cain, as St Austin expresses it, Comm. in Psal. lviii. to let others see, what a difference in the same people the love or displeasure of God can make, and that his favour to any nation is not absolute, uncon- ditional and hereditary. The very learned Dr Jackson observes, tom. iii. p. 210. that our author in this work proceeds upon right princi- ples in making the Egyptians, as well as the Canaanites, to be an accursed seed from the be- ginning, as being the offspring of Cham ; and the children of Israel to be a seed doubly blessed, as being the progeny of Sem and of faithful Ab- raham ; but that he is guilty of a two-fold error in his inference and consequences, frst, In pre- suming that the curse derived from their father Cham should be perpetually upon the Egyp- tians. 2dé;, That the blessing, derived from Sem and Abraham unto their seed, should be abso- lutely everlasting, and go along with them in every time and place. For, continues he, the calendar made by this learned author, of the opposite fates or destinies of the Egyptians and the Jews, began in his own time to vary, and shortly after our Saviour’s resurrection, to be out of date, and even quite inverted ; for the lot or destiny which this good author assigned unto the ungodly Egyptians, “ That wrath should THE BOOK OF WISDOM. Cid, KER, come upon them without mercy unto the end." ch. xix. 1. did, at length, fall upon his presumed holy ones, upon the Jews his-countrymen).¢f whom St Paul gives this melancholy ‘account, and very indifferent character, “ That they both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and persecuted the apostles, being COntrary:tp all men, and displeasing toGod. Forbiddingty speak to the Gentiles that they might. be ‘saved, filling up the measure of their sins, so that wrath is come upon them to the uttermost,” 1 Thess, ii. 15, 16. But this induraticn, which, through their own fault, hath happened to the seed of Sem and Abraham in a greater measure, and for a longer time than that which betel the seed of Cham, or the Egyptians, -will not, we babe reason to think, be a perpetual curse upon: that people, nor their rejection be absolute and final; but continue only until the fulness of the Gen. tiles shall come in, when “ the natural branche, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed again into their own olive tree,” Rom. xirag Grotius and Calmet imagine this book, ‘as:we now have it, imperfect and unfinishedsbut others have commended it as concluding pf perly with a just reflection and instructive mur, viz. that the righteous are more particularlyitit care of heaven; that God provides ‘for the: safety and happiness, and is ready to me chosen, and such as continue stedfast in biv6e venant, in every time and place. A-comsidegl. tion the most effectual and engaging to eodill. mend the study and practice of true wisdom piety, which was the great and laudableléll proposed by the author of this book, and, Whe sincerely intended, and happily accomplisl is the glory of all other works and under ings. A COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF ECCLESTASTICUS. CH xz FF 1 Alt wisdom cometh from the Lord.} The author opens this Book, as Solomon does his of Proverbs, with the commendation of wisdom ; he shews its eternity, emanation from God, and union with him. Wisdom is soine- times taken for that eternal wisdom, which is an essential attribute of the divinity ; some- times personall te tor the Aoyec, or the Word be- gotten of the Father; and sometimes for that derivative wisdom, which God’s infinite good- ness is pleased to communicate to mankind, in .different measures and proportion. But in Scripture, and in these Sapiential books parti- cularly, whenever mention is made of wisdom with any mark of commendation, either the sincere practice of religion and virtue is meant by it, or such knowledge at least, that has a near and strong influence upon it. That all wisdom cometh from the Lord is exactly the sentiment of Solomon, (whom this author very often imitates and copies) Prov. ii. 6. “ The Lord giveth wisdom, out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” And therefore St James well advises, “ If any man lack wis- dom, let him ask it of God, that giveth to all men liberally,’ i. 5. see also Dan. ii. 20, 21, 22, 23. “ Sapientiam homini tribuit Deus, (says Lactantius), quam terrenus Pater dare nullo modo potest.” De Opificio Dei, c. 19, dis- attmting God in this particular from an earthly parent, who though he can give tem- poral good things for the comfort of life, yet cannot he give wisdom for the conduct of it. This observation of our author should exe cite us to adore God with a respect and duty Worthy of him, and to acknowledge with the profoundest humility, that God, in giving us Wisdom, has given us the greatest gift that hecan bestow evena giftin some sense equal tohimself. ome Ibid. Aud is with him for ever.] The Vulgate renders, “ Et cum illo fuit semper, Sc est ante zvum.” The first clause is not in the Greck. The meaning of the latter is, that wisdom con- sidered as the Asyor, or a divine attribute, is always present with God, as his jomnt-connsel- lor, and the partner of lis throne. See Wisd. vii, 3. ix. 4. Prov. vii. 22, 27, 30. to which agrees the Tigtrin version, “ Et eidem semper conjuncta est.” Rabanus Maurus uaderstand- ing it of the Logos, says, this author opens his book as St John does his gospel, “ In the be- ginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,” &c. If with the Vulgate and some o- ther Latin translations, we understand it in the Preteritum, the sense then may be, “ that God had from all eternity a perfect idea of his fu- ture works, that the design and order of the creation with the whole series of providence, was always present in the eternal mind, ina manner infinitely more perfect, than the scheme of any work can be supposed to be in the me- mory and understanding of the best architect. Ver. 2. Who can number the sand of the seu, and the drops cf rain, and the days of eternity. } We meet with a sentence resembling this, ch. xviii. 10. ‘* Asa drop of water unto the sea, and a gravel stone in comparison of the sand, so are a thousand years to the days of eternity.” Virgil has the same comparison, Quem qui scire velit, Libyct velit equoris idem Discere, quam multe Zephyro turbentur arene ; Aut, ubi navigits violentior incidit Eurus, Nosse quot lonit veniant ad littora fluctus. Georg. L. ii. As to the first of these, viz. the quantity of the sea sand, Archimedes has made an attempt to shew the possibility of numbering them, Lib. de Arenz numero, and the Pythian Apollo, to recommend his oracles, and raise a high con- 2 228 ceit of the immensity of his knowledge; boasts of his skill in this particular, Levene Oi de tye Loree Tay segidpaes, pitge Surdoses. And as one cannot count the days of ages past and to come, so is it equally impossible to date the epocha of wisdom, to fix the time when she first began to be, or to determine her certain, period. The impossibilities here refer- red to (for such they must be acknowledged with respect to human power) God only can effect, who, as the prophet sublimely describes him, * measures the waters in the hellow of his hand, and metes out heaven with a span, and comprehends the dust of the earth in a mea- sure, and weighs the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance, whose spirit none hath directed, nor shewed to him the way of under- standing.” Isai. x]. 12, 13, 14. ' Ver. 3. Who can find out the height of heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the deep, and wisdom.] See ch. vi. 22. and note upon it. As in the’ former verse wisdom is compared to ‘three things that cannot be numbered, so in ‘this it is compared to as many as cannot be measured, intimating, that as these cannot be measured or numbered by any but God, so neither is wisdom known to, or can be perfect- ly comprehended by any being else. Thus EGGLESfASTICUS. ‘Curae, J, the\first born‘ of every creature in point wf or. dér-and time ;' the ‘expression: heve. rathen:im. plies his existence before: all thinks, |:elemibe. fore the beginning-of the visible-worldJ For if the Logos created all things, as the Scriptusg assures us, that ‘* without him: was not aay thing made,” John i. 3.-he cannot -+imsel€ib. any part of the creation, eithor iuvdicapenvor earth, or be numbered among the creaburgs,jas he was before all ‘created beings. It sig ipl worth observing, that wisdom is not here sail to have been created @wpurn warrur, the. fipsteof all things, but opdiga cavlw, before all things, before the creation of any thing in heaven, cer in earth, and to have been % aiwros, from etary. nity, as aidy is strictly taken in the precedigg verses. lportpoe is used in this senseoftens the ¢, and by this author, ch. xii. 17. xlis5.2elig, 3. and is equivalent here to wi rv alamo timage idé ut, chap. xxiv. 9. See note ‘on that plage, vel. -where the verb éxjise the same.thab is:here/ must mean an eternal generation, as.itis‘sm to have been apd rv aiavec, and am apyie,itrom the beginning, and before the world:;:atwhieh sense most catholic writers understand itPray, viii. 22. a passage particularly resemblingythls, and from which probably it was takeny-wHert wisdom is said to have been ’with thedsordbe Job, speaking of the unsearchable wisdom of fore his works of old, i. e. before thesworksaf God, and his unfathomable perfections, puts these enquiries, and illustrates the absurdity of the attempt by some of the like instances.— ** Canst thou search out the Almighty to per- fection? It ‘is higher than the heaven, what canstthou do? Deeperthan hell, whatcanst thou know? The measure of itis longer than theearth, and the breadth of it than the sca.” ch. xi.7, 8, 9. And the apostle cries out, “‘ O the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearch- able are his judgments, and his ways past find- ing out!” Rom. xi. 33. Hesiod, in his Theo- gony, describes the height of the heavens by saying, A Smith’s anvil would be nine days in falling from thence to the earth, which is as ran- dom a conjecture with respect to the height above, as the attempt of Archimedes was rash of numbering the sands beneath. Ver. 4. Wisdom hath been created before all things, and the understanding of prudence from everlasting. | apcliga wavray txrisas sopia, % oureos ‘pporhotas #% aidvee. The Greek translator ex- presses wisdoin by different words in this book, as copia, ainor, poorer, wadeia, Sc. If we should understand wisdom, here “personally, it does” not follow that the Logos is a creature; of even ‘tidied, ‘éxpressive! of “eternity; :aresad the creation, from everlasting, or ever ‘the lénatl was. It is observable that our translatorsa der the Lord possessed me from the beginmngybl- ‘lowing a copy which read ixlivedoy as . they ddd. brew word is translated by Aquila; and: Phaaghe Temulentia. But allowing txhet tobe theshie reading, which is disputed, it may be used by Solomon, and the son of Sirach in theme of generated, and thus Athanasius, Sermecs, cont. Arian. Cyril. 1. v. Thes. c. vi. Hil/ib.- de Synod. understand creation. And:indded the terms generation and creation, are bften used promiscnously in the best authors. ; Thus Cicero, “ Quoniam plurima beneficia.comtmet Patria, & est antiquior Parens quam is‘quisatt aiunt, creaverit, major ei profecto, quam! jase ti, debetur gratia,” L. i. de RepubssnAgenn this sense we find it used by Virgil, d, lib. x. 517, 5432 and on the otherihand a tion is sometimes used for creation, cthi Pal XC. 2, wp) ral Son yernBives, © before Hie mmouhtamns were brought’ forth,” i. e.' created, or iepli And when’ sich ‘strong: terms:“as’‘befort rei 0 ? ia? aReSae it then ‘Meanscternal generapion sinh like mannex} when Homercalls the gods Crar. I. res, we.cannot suppose that he means. any.re- flection: npom them, or intends any, lower sense than:that of qi torlee. ‘Indeed: Apoc. iii. 14. the Logosvis said.to be, ¥ apyn rie xIiaeac re See, the beginning of the creation of God; an expres- sienjaccording to the inaccuracy of our trans- lation, not very unlike, wisdom was created be- Sore all things, as if the Logos was but the first of -God’s creatures, made use of as an instru- ment to create all others; whereas @pyi in this -place signifies an author ; an original efficient cause or creator, and so in all the divine and moral writings, this word is used, and applied to, the infinite.and eternal Being. The Ethio- -pio version of: the place in Latin agrees here- -with):“¢ Et tuit ante omnia que creavit Deus.” ‘See Blackwall’s Sac. Class. vol. ii. p. 177. So tliat this passage of St John being capable of ‘g@ orthodox and good a sense, there seems the dns oucasion to alter*xrictws ;into xrieiws, as Dr Grabe-hhsidone.in his edition. But all diffi- veulties:and gbyections will be avoided, if wis- -dom.be considered here as a divine attribute, ‘she-infinite wisdom of, God, displayed in, and poured forth upon all the, works of the creation. seater ae understands this passage yofl oursanthor,:‘* Creata dicitur divina Sapien- Ga; cubyise operibus prodidit,” and refers to ver.Quvasiexplanatory of it. Nor is it unusual withphis:wsiter, to apply the term creation to gualitiesand attributes, as it does here to wis- \dom:inia secondary sense, see ch, vii. 16. x. 18. obkxvili. 4. xliv. 2. Lastly, May. not opdjéga ex- \press\ thes pre-eminence of wisdom above all ithings and persons, in point of worth, dignity, lamdessence, far ‘ above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every *namethat is named, not only in this world,but alfoiin that which is to come!” See Heinsii ~Aristar. Sac. in Joh. i. 15. aitWer.. 5.. The word of God most high iy the fountain of wisdom.] ‘Vnis verse is omitted in smast Greek copies, as it ig also in the Syriac, vand; Arabic versions ; it occurs in the Complut. ‘and:from thence our translators inserted it. We. ‘may understand by ¢he Word of God, cither the Logos personally, who is called, the Almighty Word, in the. book of Wisdom, chap, xviii. 15.. by Philo alsa,,and the Chaldec paraphrasts ; or; hy, the Word of God, may be meant the holy Scripture, which is the sonrce of wisdoin,,and aigich. treasury..of heavenly ,knowledge ;, and that, the cominandmenss therein contained are. the: way. tos wisdom, according, to the .ebserya- tyon ip yer. 26... See Deutiv, Bess fory:: ae | ECCLESIASTICUS. | 226 -Ubjd. And her ways are everlasting command- ments. Coverdale’s, and the Geneva version is more clear and explicit, the everlasting command- ments are the entrance unto her. The sense is much the same as in the former sentence, tho’ the phrase is somewhat varied, as may be ob- served almost throughout this, and the book of Proverbs, wz. that the keeping of the command- ments, or the observance of the precepts of the decalogue, which Moses styles ever/asting, from their unchangeableness, in opposition to human laws, that are alterable at pleasure, is the way which Icads to wisdom. Like that, Prov. i. 17. “ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wis- dom,” and that in Job, xxviii. ¢8. “ ‘Lhe fear of the Lord is wisdom ; and to depart from evil is understanding.’ The words of Baruch very happily express the sense of ourauthor. “ Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life, give ear to understand wisdom. Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom, for if thon hadst walk- ed in the way of God, then shouldst thou have dwelled in peace for ever,” ch. ili. S, 12, 13. Ver. 6. To whom hath the root of wisdom been revealed.] Thus Baruch iii. 15. “ Who hath found out her place, or who hath come into her treasures ?”’ See also yer. 29, 30, 31, 32. and Job. xxviii. 20,23. If by the root.of wisdom, we here understand religion, then the sense may. be, “ that the right knowledge of God, and the true way of worshipping him, was disco- vered but to a few nations ;” “ God shewed his statutes and ordinances unto Israel, but.the heathen had no knowledge of his laws,” ’as the Psalmist expresses it, Ps. cxlvii. 19,20. Thus again Baruch, chap. iii. “ No man knoweth her way, nor thinketh of her path;. but he that knoweth all things, knoweth her, he hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob his servant, and to Israel his be- loved.” Or if we understand this of God him- self, as the root and fountain of wisdom, the meaning then will be: “ Who can fathom the depth of infinite wisdom, unravel the mystcries of providence, and the secrets of God’s judg- ments ? Or who can fully explain the nature and essence of the deity, or know the whole of his will, and the true and perfect manner of his worship, which can only be discovered in his word, and as-far as he has been pleased to re- veal himself, and make the counsels of his will known ?” Tarvpyiwala-is used by Solomon and this writer in a good sense, though oftener, | believe, taken jn a bad one. . “Fhe next verse is omitted in.many Greek copies, and by the A. ¢ oe. P ‘ : x He [= “ om oy 230 rabic, and Syriac interpreters. Tt seems only an explanation of this, and perhaps crept into the text from the nargin. By coavregia in it, sceins to be understood wisdom’s manifold way of acting, and the diversity of her gifts and o- perations, which is but indifferently rendered by our translator’s, experience. Ver. 8. There is one wise and greatly to be feared, the Lord sitting upon his throne.] Vhere is one only wise, i.e. God. All others have wisdom through and from him. St Paul styles him the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, 1 Tim. i. 17, and so Clemens, Scpac & pores Orde % réresee porvog. God alone is wise, he alone is perfect, Strom. ii. and iv. and Philo, afs- wae al rencrorrles 4 axporules trog aor wore, the heights and perfections of excellency are only proper and peculiar to one. De Sacrif. Cain et Abel. Plato in like manner appropriates wisdom to the deity : Ts pir copay xan, tuorye péya Gvar dona, 4% Od pore apie. In Phoed. Or may not this be considered as an answer to the foregoing questions and interrogations, ver. ¥, 3, 6, 7.? That how difficult soever these instances may seem in themselves, or to our capacity, yet to God’s wisdom they are open, as well as possi- ble; that he alone knows the original, deep de- signs, and infinite worth of wisdom, who has possessed her from all eternity, and gives her to whom, and in what proportion he pleases. Our translators, and the Geneva version, to make the sense clearer, and to particularise who is meant, insert, ¢he Lord, in the text, and so does Junius in his translation, though the Greek copies begin the next verse with Kup, except the Alexandrian MS. The Vulgate rendering of this passage is very lofty, “ Unus est altissi- mus Creator omnium,omnipotens, & rex potens, 8 metuendus nimis, sedeus super thronum il- hius, & dominans Deus.” Ver. 9. He created her, and saw her, and numbered her, and poured her out upon all his works.) i, e, God hath made all things in num- ber, weight, and measure, Wisd. xi. 20. in the most exact order and proportion, and by the marks of wisdom on all his works, hath brought her forth, displayed, and revealed her excellency, Vor so x2iis3e: may be understood here,.and ver, 4. and thus the Oriental versions explain txlize, the Syriac by patefecit eam, and the Arabic by reterit. See Psal, civ: 24. and Philo Megi xeopwpyiae, Calmet Jikewise under- stands by; pumbering her, that ** God knew her from all eternity, and the time of her first Appearance upon the earth, or any part of it.”? ECCLESIASTICUS. Ciara, Ver. 10. She is with all flesh according te: hig. gift, and he hath given her tv them that love him; Having shewn the original of wisdom, .jthat.ig was from all eternity, he. proceeds: beautifully: to shew its production, or gradual appearance in the world, and that its effects and signatures: are displayed upon the creation in-three pantia: culars. First, in general, .as his wisdomig plentifully shed, and: poured out upon all his; works, and is universally and in all respecty to be admired. ‘* It reaches from one end of the world to another mightily, and sweetly. does she order all things,”’?” Wisd. vili. 1. oSee condly, That though there are tokens and traces enough of wisdom discernible in all inanimate things, yet it is most visible in animal bodies) and distributed to all of them in some degree or other ; for in all of them there is a-principle: of instinct, something analogous to reason,.and’ much resembling it. Thirdly, That the gift and high privilege of reason belongs chiefly to men, and even to them is communicated:ia different degrees and proportions ; to. one’ ig’ given, ‘* the word of wisdom, to another, the word of knowledge, to another, divers kinds of tongues, to another, the interpretation of then? © 1.Cor. xit. 8, 10. Wisdom is divided several ly to every man, as God pleases, and.asiis most necessary for each to receive it, Ephes.-igy 7. Such as are religious, and fear. theyLérd she is most conversant with, and to them ig# pryncer, he hath distributed her graces most. berally: Accordingly the angels, a higher.om der in the scale of being, whom .the:Psalmig calls God’s servants, continually doing:' bie will and pleasure, are most perfect in know ledge ; and even among these intelligenees,. , one star differeth from another star in ee. From this principle, as Solomon: does: tn/thé’ book of Proverbs, the author takes occasion enlarge upon, and recommend ‘the fear of the Lord. ‘ F G19 Ver. 11. The fear of the Lord is honour; aid &lory and gladness, and a crown of rejoicing) An awful sense of God, a devout affection to hith and a fear of offending him, sucha religious frame of mind, is not only a great credit and orhamen ta aman, but is the cause of much joy-and/hapt piness to him. It fills the soul with.a holy:com* fidence, with inward satisfaction; and compl cency. And though the: world-has notroftet 2 just consideration of, and.regard: to the good man’s merit; yetris he not the less honourabig, or glorious in himself; his glory is as'm above commen applause; as ‘piety: is'pr Crap. i. to ambition.. According to vulgar opinion, in- deed,, to-inspire men with the fear of God, is to fill them ‘with melancholy and sadness ; but the wise man here assures us, that this is the only true source of joy. To fear God, is not to startle at, and tremble before an all-power- ful being, made up of severity and cruelty, in- tent upon man’s destruction, as the devil often dresses up, and represents God to pious souls, to cast them into horror and despair, and raise in them jealousy and distrust. If any thus ‘describe God with such marks of abhorrence and terror, itis not the true God they are re- presenting, who is plentcous in goodness, and ag more tenderness for his creatures, than the most indulgent father, s Ver: 12. The fear of the Lord......giveth us. @ long life.) See ver. 20. A strict course of piety is most likely to prolong life in a na- tural way, whereas sin, sometimes by natural vauses;. sometimes by the anger and just judg- ment of -God, is the cause of a sudden, untime- dy, or violent'death. Thus the Psalmist, «* The blood-thirsty and deceitful men shall not live out-half their days,” Psalm lv, 25. But wis- dom ¢ays of herself, ‘* By me thy days shall be maltiplied;‘and the years of thy life shall be encreased,”’ Prov. ix. 11. and ch. ii). 2, 16. It is.also the surest way to procure God’s blessing dnd. to:preserve men from all evils and calami- ties ; for the ‘* angel of the J.ord tarrieth round about: them that fear him, and delivereth him,’” Psalm xxxiv. 7. And in some following verses to the enquiry, “© What man is he that lusteth to live, and would fain see good, days ?’” the answer is, ‘“* Eschew evil and: do good, seek peace and ensue it.” w Ver. 13. Whoso feareth the Lord, it shall go well with him at-the last, und he shall find favour ‘in the day of his death....| Some copies read with the margin, ‘* He shall be blessed.””” The -Syriac has, ‘* Colentis Deum prosper erit exitus,, & in fine dierum suorum benedicetur:”’ and. the Arabic, ‘* Timentis Deum optimus erit finis, & in extrema zxtate sua benedicetur.”” The- sense im: either rendering is, that the good man, dn, his last hours, shall not be tormented with. the worm and sting. of conscience, with'sad re- flections upon -a ‘past ill spent: life, but shall: have. a. sweet foretaste of approaching happiness, and.a joyful expectation of entering into a bet- ter staté, and receiving. the reward. of-his piety.. Hei shali die witha quied:and: easy conscience, ‘dnd, slike -gogd old Simetng: depart:-this life in, peace: “Thus Galat.. viz. 16, St Paul says, ECCLESIASTICUS. aon ** They that walk according to this rule, #, e. the rule of righteousness, peace is on them, and on the Israel of God ;” for as the verb is not expressed in the Greek, we may as well exponnd the passage, as an affirmation of what is, as a wish of what may be. I refer it to the learned to determine, whether this writer lay- ing down so many fine rules of righteousness and moral conduct, which the study of the law furnished him with, and precepts of inward and spiritual obedience, anda sincere service of God from the heart, which occur through the whole work, and withal the great and certain reward which attends good men at all times, and at their death more particularly, can be supposed to be without a firm belief of a life to come ; and whether the reflection here, and many other expressions to the like purpose, can be separated from the hopes of it, without vio-. lence. ; Ver. 14. To fear the Lord <3 the beginning of wisdom.] ‘* A cood understanding, (says the Psalmist,) have all they that do hereafter, the praise of it endureth for ever ;” and‘thus Job, “Unto man be said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; and to depart from evil is understanding,” ch. xxviii. 28. The observ- ance of:the commandments of the Lord, is the- principal point or fulness of wisdoin,. see vei. 16. the practice of which gives nen a better ur derstanding of what is'most conducive to their happiness, than any maxims of human learn- ing can infuse; for. without piety, or the'fear of the Lord, wisdom is falsely so called, and de- generates into a vicious cunning. Plato has an observation like this, 7 @iw-yraoe, ¢cPia és? 8 dpa aandh. ‘The expression here by ‘the infin:- tive apyn ceias PoCaeSa riy Ory, is very elegant and classical. Thus Cicero, ‘+ Ipsu'ti qaidem. psceare, quoquo te verteris, unum est.” Pa- radox, and Persius, “ Scire tuum nihil est ;?” and St Austin: more strongly, ‘* Honorifico te- debito sacrificio laudis, pro scire &. posse.”” Me- ditat. c. 12. é Ibid. And it: was oreated with the fuithful in. the womb.....]. The faithful, from their infan- cy, have a fear and. dread: of God,.and enter ve- ry early on a.course of piety and religion, and are no sooner conceived: and born. into the church, say Mess. du Port. Royal, but the fear of Ged is formed in their heart,. and it conti- nues with them to their lives. end,. Or it may mean, that a good: disposition, and.a. religious. ‘temper is born and brought into the world with the faithful, and accompanies them after. This. 232 is what the author of the Book of Wisdom means, when he says, that ‘‘ being a witty child, and having a good Spirit, he came into a body undefiled,” ch. viii. 19, 20. 1, e. not disposed, or naturally inclined to evil. And thus Job says, that from his mother’s womb he had a natural compassion for the poor and fatherless, ch. xxxi. 18. And the contrary tem- per is well described by the Psalmist, ‘* The ungodly, are froward even from their mother’s womb ; as soon as they are born, they go a- stray, and speak lies,” Psal. Iviii. 3. i. e. they are naturally addicted to such vices. Or we may understand this of some peculiar and sin- gular gift of God to the faithful, as was the case of the prophet Jeremiah, of whom God says, ‘* Before I formed thee in the body, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, ch. i. 5. The like may be observed also of John the Baptist. There is a remarkable pleonasm ‘in the Greck here, pila asc ty Matee curexlicdn avroi¢, which is an Hebraism: There are frequent instances of .the like construction in this book, in the LXX. See Jerem. xx. 14. and in approved authors. Ver. 15. She hath built ‘an everlasting founda- ‘tion with men.....| i.e. In just men more particularly, such in whose heart the fear of the Lord is strongly rooted,. the impressions and good effects of which will not be easily ef- faced in them, or their children. As wisdom was from everlasting, so her delights have ever been with the sons of men, ** rejoicing (as it is expressed, Prov. viii. 31.) in the habitable parts of the earth.”” And as she delights in the chil- dren of men above all others, as being the image of God, among whom she has fixed her residence, so will she abide, especially with such as fear the Lord, and do not. by sin deface his image, Wisd. i. 5. John xiv. 23. What wisdom says of herself, Prov. viii. 23. a3 70 aidroc Weuerioot we, exactly expresses Seuérwr aiare here, which is rendered more beautifil by the metaphor, trccswoer, ** fundamentum eternitatis nidificavit,”’ as Junius renders. And what she observes of the Jewish nation, ch. xxiv. 8. that ** the Creator of all things caused her dwelling to be in Jacob, and her inheritance in Israel,” is equally applicable to all true Israelites, whom whom she favours above all others. The Vul- gate here adds three verses, which are not in the Greek copies. Ver. 17. She filleth all their house with things desiruble.} In the foregoing verse, it 1s wsQvexes aves, according to the idiom of the Hebrew ECCLESIASTICUS. tongue, which expresses a satiety. or fj by ebrietas,.or inebriation. See’St!, Quest.in Genes. Plautus has the fikee sion, ‘* Unde saturitate ego sxpe: exits in Captiv.” .The reading of the Com sian, oixer avror, which our translators | Here: low, seems more ‘ oA Cait Tt. ThE Lordy 18 the source-of true knowledge and pru- to) without this, knowledge 1s falsely ‘so alge e cA = r é ed, is proud, presumptuous, ‘and overbear- i 4, cal “ae ‘and prudence degenerates into craft and anning. Pera f great abilities and attain- cunning. . Persons of grea thents, without a sense of piety and religion, are infinitely more dangerous to society, to'the church or state, than even the most wicked men who'have less, or but ordinary skill and talentSe The latter can scarce hurt any but themselves, in matters at least of a higher con- cern P but the former are capable of unsettling, yerverting, and ruining numbers of thought- fess and unguarded souls, and too often suc- ceed, by their sophistry and address, in their mischievous attempt.” Upon the next verse, both the Syriac and Arabic translations, para- phrase very largely, and insert a great deal, o- mitting all that follows, either in the Greek or Latin copies to ver: 28. as the Chaldee para- frase often inserts very large portions, with- ut authority from the Hebrew, in many parts of thé Old Testament. “Wer ar. “The fear'of the Lord driveth away sin, and where it 1s present, it turneth away wrath Peery. @, ! The fear of the Lord and his judg- inents, When ‘it is strongly rooted in the soul, in- cliriés Méil'to; and encourages them in, the per- formaficé of their duty, and thereby keeps them from sin ‘and punishment, its sure attendant. See bv: xvi. 6. It either puts them upon obser- ving ‘@ prudent circumspection and caution in tlitir'dttions, or to atone for sin committed, by i and repentance. Tertullian says ex- ly, “ Qui presumit, minus veretur, mi- ni pizecavet, plus periclitatur: Timor fun- 4ivéntum salutis est.” De Cultu Foeminarum. Tie vetse is wanting-in the Roman edition, and sotie*othets. Dr Grabe has inserted it from the inphiatensian, which our translators generally fdlfew: which copy, he observes, is of singular ue te supply the Avatus in others. Prolog. tom. ultie+ iit!’ Our version renders wapapéror $8 aror— apyavy “Where it is present it turneth away ‘sbuit Grotius understands by eapayirer, eek ‘arid’ patient man, whose behaviour and’ patie) teitiperf'sach, that it is not easily inflamed, his batoty'interposes against a rising storm, its cool jodgthent “either prevents or asswages wrath, and-risétisibly disarms its fury. This interpre- tation, though coantenanced indeed by the con- text, settits'to want an article'to confirm it. In- stead of this: latter clause, theVulgate, Grabe, ECCVESTASTICUS. eaning 18," Wisdotn, or the “fear of the’ 233 and Clemens Alexandrinus, Pedag. L. i. c. viii. Insert apoGor $8 wv Suvhestar Sexcsabivar. Ver. 22. A fiarious man cannot be justified, for the sway of his tury shall be his destruction... Our translators follow a copy which read Suue- Sng avip, as the Complutensian that of Camera- rius, and some other copies have it. The. Vati- can and Alexandrian MS, which Heeshelius here agrees with, have Suuze dSixoc, unjust anger, such as is without sufficient and good reason, or is im- moderate in its degree. St Paul acquaints us, that we may sometimes be angry, and yet sin not, Ephes. iv. 26. And there is a resentment, which is highly commendable ; such, for in- stance, is a zeal for the service of God, and the cause of religion, where unconcernedness and indifference are culpable and sinful; such a lukewarmness as is condemned in the Laodice- ans, Revel. iii. 16. Anger, without some such just occasion, cannot be justified, nor free from censure or fault. Uhe sense is pretty much the same with that of St James, chap. i.20. “ The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God ;” i, e. it puts a man upon saying and do- ing things contrary to his duty, and is a breach of that perfection which renders him acceptable to God. Anger proceeds from a wrong princi- ple, it springs generally from pride, and is mo- derated and vanquished most effectually by the fear of the Lord, according to St Paul’s obser- vation and advice, “ Be not high minded, but fear,” Rom. xi. 20. Our author speaks by the figure litotes, when he says anger cannot be justified, for more. is intended than is here ex- pressed; it means, that it is highly criminal, and to be condemned, and shall not escape pu- nishment, according to the marginal reading. It is generally attended with mischief to others, or to the furious person himself, the impetuo- sity or violence of whose passion proves often fatal to him in its consequences. The Greek expresses this by fori Svys, a metaphor taken from the balance, and literally means, that the excess or preponderancy of passion will overturn aman. This, in a larger sense, may be under- stood of other irregular lusts and passions, which, if criminally indulged, will be the cer- tain ruin of a man. Ver. 23. A patient man will bear for a time, and afterward joy shall spring up unto. kim.) "Tse por KUTe aradocer tuppecurr. A meek ‘man will bear with injuries for a long time, and not di- sturb the calm of his mind, nor forfeit the re- ward of his patience. According to Calmet, the Gs 234 sense is, that the good man is often exposed in this life to evil treatment, persecution, and- re. proaches, but is not dejected or discouraged’ by his present affliction ; he will wait a while, jus- quan tems de -‘aé, wntil the appointed time for his deliverance ; in the mean time he rests him- self upon God’s promises till death, and then he will find himself not only delivered out of -his troubles, but filled with joy and glory in a better state. See Wisdom ili. 1,2, 3. and chap. v. ft, 2,3. God ofien permits the righteous to be af- flicted in this world, that having approved them- selves to him by their patient enduring of tribu- lations, they may at length enter into joy and happiness. The Scriptures: furnish many in- stances of this, especially in the history of the patriarchs and apostles. St Paul: thus describes the state of himself and fellow Christians, “ We are troubled on every side, but not distressed ; we are perplexed, but not in despair ; persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroyed,” 2 Cor. iv. 8,9. The reading of this verse, as it is in almost all the Greek copies, seems corrupt ; that of the Alexandrian MS seems preferable, tae Kop ot OSC) ocs maxpsbuuor, % Usepor U7 avasaces wppocummr, i. e. God will give unto him “ beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Isai. x1. 3. or the reading may be vstpor aura wyadeoi ev Pposurne, according to the copy, probably which the Vulgate followed, est postea -Redditio Jucunditatis. This: observation is particularly true with respect to Job, who was an equai pattern of suffering and patience, and therefore we read, that God made his latter end as pro- sperous as the beginning. Ver. 24. He will hide his words for a time, aad the lips of many shall declare his wisdum.. .} As applied to the meek man, the sense is, “ he will stifle his resentment, and not break out into indecent and outrageous expressions ; he. will. keep silence, especially from hasty and injurious words, though such a command of his: temper be pain and grief to him; and his moderation and conduct in this particular will be both ad-- mired and commanded.” If understood of the good man etruggling under adversity, the mean-- mg is, “ that he will not openly complain. of the Almighty, but silently bear the discipline of affiiction, and wait God’s own pleasure, know- ing that the “ Lord is. good unto all that wait for him, to the sot] that seeketh him.” -Lament. ili. 25. The description of this religious resig- nation in_.ver. 26, 28, 29. of that chapter, is very fine, and close to the present purpose, ECCLESIASTICUS. Crheyd “Tt is good that a man’ should ‘both: ‘hdpe » quietly wait for the salvation: of the \Lordd/ He sitteth alone, and. keepeth silence,’ becguae ty hath! born it upon him ; -he putteth his? rrlowth in the dust, if so be there may. be hope-”!? Spy Psalmist gives the same excellent-advice of 4ijby mission to the divine will, “ Hold’ thee ‘stiltij, the Lord, and put thy trust in him, and-heshal} bring it to pass.” Psal. xxxvii. 7. -which whole psalm, a learned prelate observes, is-sumined y in this, and the foregoing: verse of this chapter, Patrick’s Comment. in loc. ‘This : trust:in:@¢ for deliverance is very beautifully called: by..$t Paul, epyor rig wisexe, ANd vrouarh ri¢ énaridoc, 2ST hey? i, 3. ‘t The work of faith, and patience of hope Osiander understands this of calumny-‘in!-panj cular, which the good man is loaded with fer-s time, while his innocency is suspectédjawhiok he takes patiently, suffering wrongfullyz; -bug that afterwards his righteousness shall berzacd knowledged and confessed before men, :andihiy just dealings be as clear as the noon-day..omml: in loc. This may be further ‘undefstond(of prudent silence, and modest reservedness} with is not hasty to speak, nor forward’ to} keatnor extol itself ; which instance.of wisdom.shall ndy go without its due praise, nor suffer :forritsiawm backwardness. Some copies read-yenplrstory hg, lips of the faithful, but aorrey is-the:more gets ral.reading, which the Vulgate-and: our-traaplay tors follows, i. e. his silence. shalt -bezvetomg penced with the praise-of all men. .Ovr authay has the like expression, chap. xxxixsqv 10999} Ver. 25. The-parables of knvwtedge.urein-tht treasures of wisdom, but godliness issum abomimt tion to @ sinner.} i. e. In the treasury, dothe som of a wise man, are many. useful, sellestioog » and. observations upon men -and_things;| whieh he understands the most proper. seasonrtosbaey forth and publish. For the true mark.of nai man is to know how to keep his thoughts aa words to himself, and not to talk.at randamm and speak confidently about every thing, onuah seasonably of any thing. “ Who isa wiselaiay and endued with knowledge among:you na St James, iii, 13. “ Let him shew ovy of aigm conversation his works with meekness'of:780- dom.” Or the. sense may be; -#--Manyngood lessons of instruction and morality aredel by persons .of. great piety. and undemtahdaag, which are disagreeable: to the. wicked, endppiom many. repropfs, :are disregarded: by hithi%uhet Wisd, ii -12,.54, 8c. ory Leone. oa Ver. 26.1 If thou desire-wisdom, keep, the cam: mandments, and the Lord: shall: give. Aer Wate Crary lt, thegiocSee ver, 5. The vauthor. of: the Book oft Wisdom. accordingly-observes,: “hat into a ‘maligiqus-soul wisdoti will not-enter, nor dwell im a-hody: subject unto sin,” i. 4. Some copies rei@ the-beginning-of this'verse with. an ‘inter- rogations as the Roman in particular,. imbyunoze ep/éy,s:* Dost thou desire wisdom? keep the commandments.” And thus St Austin, “ Con. eupisti sapientiam?, Serva mandata:” And he makes'this: observation upon it, “ Prior est in recta hominis eruditione labor operandi, quam yolyptas -intelligendi que vera sunt.”. Adv. Faustum.. The sense of this passage is not un- like'that of St John, vii. 17. “ If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whe- ther it: be of God.” And thus the Psalmist, “ The secret of the Lord is with. them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant,” Psal. xxv. 14.'.: Job has determined the: matter when he:says, ‘!: Behold, the fear of the Lord that is wisdom ;..and to depart from evil, is under- standing,”: chap. xxviil. 28. t¢ Vers'28.. Distrust not the fear of the. Lord when:thou art poor.| pi aneabions pelo Kugiv. Ac- cording to: the marginal reading, ‘* Be not dis- obedient to: the fear of the Lord, +i. e. to the commandments of the Lord, when-thou art poor.or-distressed,””” The Tigurin version ren- ders StoReligione Domini parere ne recuses indpsi?? 7The-sense-is, ‘* Do not distrust God’s goodness in the-time of thy adversity, or low estare, as4f heeither could not, or would not succour thee;:and so be induced to use unlaw- ful means, or fly to forbidden arts, or trust too much.upon-any human help for preservation.” Fot this reason; says the Psalmist, ‘* the Lord will not Jeave the rod of the-ungodly upon: the lovofthe righteous,” i. e. subject them to their stourge‘and tyranny, ‘lest the righteous put their tiand -unto wickedness.”’ Psal. cxxv. 3, And upon-account of the temptation and dan-- gers}attending the extremes of ‘each state, the/prophet Agur prays equally against pover- tysand»riches;- Prov. xxx: 9. ar} achén thou art poor, are not in the Vat. ‘Alex; MSy4 fede “The Oriental versions-too om¥t them."-Dr Grabe has inserted theny from: the: Gonrplut.‘which-our translators here like-" Wisefollowys vo o> peoneineas 2° tay bids ome nat unto him witha double heart: a toeeMidh abfections divided betwixt God ‘and the-worldsifor (God ‘requires:the whole~heart;: and to be served with unifor#t .ebedience ‘and sincerity. «Or the'sense may»ba} “+ Do not of- ferthy devotions withadoubting spirit: Ac ECCLESTASTICUS, The words érii¢: ligione Dei glorieris ;” ‘or ‘act: not the false 235 cordingly St James adyises to ‘* ask in faith, nothing wavering,”’ because a persoa of such a distrustful disposition has no grounds to ex- pect .that che shall receive any thing of the Lord. James i. 6, 7. Matt. xxi. 21. Mark xi, 23, 24. 1 Tim. ii. S. Vhe Arabic takes it in this-sense, rendering, ‘ Neque accedas, dubius existens in corde tuo.”? The saine apostle calls such a one, a double minded man, ari SALvyxee, and describes him as divided and distracted in what he goes- about, and unstable in all his Ways. . ‘* Quomodo. prastabit Deus,” says Lactantius, ‘“ precanti quod oraverit, cum ad precandum neque ex animo, nec observanter accedit ??? L. v. 20. ‘The wicked are describ- ed by the Psalmist, as flattering with their: lips, ** and dissembling with a double heart.”’ Psal. xii. .¢. which the Hebrew expresses by leh valeb, a heart, and a heart. See a!so 1 Chron: xii. 33. where it is said of the chil-. dren ‘of Zebulon,. that they were not of double heart, which according to the marginal read- ing from the Hebrew is, They were withont a heart, and a heart. Absgue corde & corde, as some old Latin versions have it. Ver. 29. Be not-a hypocrite .in the sight of. men, and take good heed what thou speakest.] pi vroxpibiis tv séuasw aoarar, Grotius understands: this of lying, “* Ne mentiaris coram hominibus,”’’ and says, that uzoxp/recSas is so taken in several: parts of Scripture, Job xxxiv. 30. Matt. xxiv. 51. James v. 12. And indeed this hath some countenance from the following : sentence :s ‘*¢ Take good heed what thou speakest,’? which the Arab, expounds of veracity, *¢ sit sermo labi- orum tuorum equus, & verax.”? There may al- so.another interpretation: be given of this place, ‘* Act not the hypocrite-before men, by put- ting on the -mask of religion, or boasting of thy perfection in it, when thy actions speak the contrary ;”” one of them, ** Qui Curios simu- lant, &» Bacchanalia vivunt.””? And-thus ‘the: Syriac.seems to understand it, ‘* neque de Re-. friend,-with an intention.to deceive others, by the specious shew and appearance of friendship. - Lastly, The sense may be, ‘* Do not play the hypocrite by pretending to.be what you. are: " not, commending ‘yourself ‘before others, and’ extolling your merit; to’ gain their: good opin- ion and applause.” And ‘thus ‘the Geneva’ version: takes it, ‘‘* Be: not‘ a‘ hypocrite,” that® men should speak of thee.”?» Junius‘‘has still a-. new interpretation, ‘**:Ne simulatus esto, ‘ut si ora humana habeas,” which ‘the smargia ex: g 236 plains, “ Do not play the hypocrite by acting different parts, and assumifhg two or more per- sons, and speaking with two or more mouths,”’ but this seems forced. Probably é scuzac, ts a -hebraism literally rendered, and means no more ‘than coram. < Ver. 30. Exalt not thyself, lest thou fall, and bring dishonour upon thy soul, and so God discov- er thy secrets.] i.e. Do not think to deceive, and impose upon God, as thou hast upon thy friends and neighbours, but aveid dissimula- tion and spiritual pride, lest God humble thee, and discover the hypocrisy and naughti- ness of thy heart, and expose- thee to public shaine and contempt, by publishing thy secret ‘wickedness, which is the moral of the proud Pharisee in the Gospel, Luke xviii. This the Lord threatens also by his prophet, ‘* This is thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the Lord : because thou bast forgotten me and trusted in falsehood, and I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills ; therefore will I discover thy skirts upon thy face, that thy shame may appear,”’ Jer. xill. 25, 26,97. and ra xguaJa ov means here Te xpumfa 7H. aloxvrne, as it is expressed 2 Cor. iv. 2. Plato finely observes, 34 Stpamevew Secv. ¥ oXHweos. rexyratorrac, aAnc anndere Tiaras aepefinv. Ibid. Cast thee down in the midst of. the con- eregation.]: This refers ta the custom of bring- ing criminals to a public hearing, and punish- ing them openly for. their faults. See Kecles. xxii. 81. Bier. ¥. 14. and chap. xxvi. 26. where Solomon, speaking of such a deceiver, says, ixxanrumler Tac tavre auagliac, eWyrasoe éy cured fore, “* revelabitur malicia ejus in concilio.”' Vulg,. Ibid. Because thou camest not in. truth to the: fear of ‘the Lord.) ti & wgoctntse 7a pow Kuply ty aarfea, 1. e. sincerely and heartily, without hy- pocrisy, ‘contrary to the double heart, ver. 28. for our love to God must be entire and undi- vided ; and sincerity! is the formality, or soul of it. Some copies read, oz ¥ wporinles ty pos Kupix, ** because thou camest not in the fear of the Lord.’?: , wu, OA a PS Dh JY son, if thou. come to serve the. Lord, pre-. pare thy soul for temptation. | Corn. a La- pide'thinks that the occasion.of this advice was, that at this.time the Jews were grievously. af- flicted under Ptolemy: Lagus, who took Jerusa- Jem, and used the Jews with great severity, and sent: maby thousands captive into Egypt, which ECCLESIASTICUS.. change of state, it-was'apprehended,mightia. cline many’ to forsaké Judaism|; 46° eps, whom, and keep ther ‘steady to the religionige their fathers, the author gives' them ‘this geaggh, able advice. Comm, in loc. ‘See also-Dupigg Prelim. Dissert. p. 23." All’ temptations be referred to two sorts; either! thay: Proeng] from God, or the devil and his agentsi eG@ tempts men for the trial and manifestationpf their faith, he proves the sincerity of theiraga tue by occasional afflictions, his design isofy make them better, more vigilant, more tesolyte, and more humble; to train them up to-vietony, to prepare them for a crown, arid to:increag their glory and reward ; and he gives’themy’ fig this purpose, force and strength propottionable. to the combat he suffers them to be exposedieg; The devil tempts men, when he solicits themnty sin, when he invites them by offers of imaginary wealth or greatness to fall down, and: we him, when he is busy with: mens thoughts,ang by false suggestions would gain‘.over theiiatt fections, when he insinuates: the «difficultibwand discouragements: of religion, and theiplehopsds. of vice and licentiousness: His. temptationiger always to be dreaded, they -are designedstgiap pose upon, and‘cheat men, to rob them tefitiber innocency and peace,. to- make-them éalioftoth one wickedness to anether, to disregardseite falls of God, to be indifferent about-mattérs:nfotel gion, and, in consequence of that, to fallérjet the faith, and at length to sink themotlo pefllh tion, the portion of libertines and :unbelisem To be tempted in the former sense, is’the pat tion of all God’s faithful servants and cule see Heb. xii. 6. Thus Moses, had. a-greatsteul . of variety of afflictions, when he was.appoihtéd , to serve the Lord in Egypt; he met ,withocomi tempt and ill usage, not only fromthe .Egype.’ tians, but from the ungrateful Israelites;: sre deliverance he was soliciting and labouring’ faq. and was often in danger of his life, frostyahe malice of Pharaoh and his people,’ buthhewmt not frighted from executing the commi was entrusted with, by any threats opbarddy which he endured; for “ he had a respecsgiiile the recompence of the reward, from dine Waa sent him.” Heb, xi. 27, So under-the gaspeh when the sons of Zebedee coveted: pkseny trust.and honour in an imaginary. kingdom, _ blessed. Lord told them, that the prefermenwih his court did not consist.in the vanity ofipm cedence, in sitting at. his right hand,sord left ; ‘but in drinking of- his bitter dup: anda ing ‘baptized with his bloody’ bapdsmt, Maule (Cae II. ‘arsiizAnd!when St Paul was called to an apos- theahip, the Lord told Ananias in a vision, that shiscmigsion:: was not: designed to triumph over the Gentile world, nor should his revelations dis- cover‘to. him,-what kingdoms he should con- wert 5 but ‘SL will’shew him,” says God, “ what great things he must suffer for my name’s sake,” Acts ix..16, And this that apostle well under- stood ; for..when he reckons up the signs of an apostle, he begins with his patience under af- flictions, as if that greatness of mind which slighted the tribulations, which attended upon preaching the gospel, was a more eminent, and ..surer sign of his apostleship, than all his power of working signs, and wonders, and mighty “deeds,.:2 Cor. xii, 12. St Chrysostom’s obser- vation upon this notice to prepare for tempta-. tions;:is both pertinent and entertaining, xaaai ai taal yerias ix. @ pooruior eis Derparpve tumecerr’ usyarn wpo~ pari 3% wapaxancis ivapyig Tig dwaciag xidurar evbiag are= posasderx. 7a, “ Bella vero promissio in ten- tationes incidere! Egregia. vero exhortatio & bonsolatio .ejus servitutis pericula statim degu- stave. iplane egregia simul & admiranda, & maximum: jucrum: adferens. Audi que se- quuntur, sious Auram igne examinatum, purius sedilivur, pari modo etiam anima, que: inter.af- flictiones :wersatur. & pericula, splendidior per ila -evailit,, omnemque- peccatorum maculam abstetgit.: Serm: xxii. Tom. 5. Nor is the follawing less. worthy of notice and regard, (Qui Deo placere cupit, ante omnia longani- mitatem apprehendens ac patientiam, debet for- titer obvias .quasque sufferre tribulationes, au- gustias, atque necessitates, sive corporales mor- bos.ac-passiones, sive-improperia, atque injurias ab: hominibus, sive etiam diversas invisibiles. anxictates, que -a.spiritibus malignis inseruntur agime.”: 'S. Ephrem. Tract. de Patientia: The Vulgate.adds, “ Accedens ad servitutem Dei, sta: im. justitia & timore,” which is not in the Greek copies ;-but St Austin de Speculo, St Cy- prian, ‘Tract. de Mortal... and St Bernard all re- tain:them:; probably.they: were in some ancient py..which they used, the same which the. hulgata follows. . eiVen.2., And make not haste-in-time of trouble.] Kat, wh soweye iv xdupd tmaywyig? ‘“Exaywyn here. Signifies.the evils which God is pleased at any time. to visit: his servants with: See ver. 4. And thus it-is.used in-very many. places by this wn- teryiiis 28 cv v.'%. xxiii. 11+ xl. g. xlvi.-3. xlvili.. a! Gee.also, Pet. ii. 5. The sense is, when tri- balation and, anguish are upon thee,, patiently: depend.upon God, wait till he graciously vouch- ECOGLESIASTICUS. 237 safes the times of refreshment and deliverance, and do not, through distrust of his mercy, be- take thyself to any unlawful means of extricat- ing or saving thyself; for God knoweth when, and how to bring his afflicted servants out of their temptations, 2 Pet. ii. 9. The expression is the same with that, Isa. xxviii, 16. ‘* He that believeth, shall not make haste,” i. e. he that believeth God’s promises made to his faithful servants, will not shew any distrust, nor fly, or hasten to any base and unlawful means, such as. those mentioned to be made use of in that chap- ter, ver. 15. by some, “* who made lies their re- fuge, and hid themselves under falsehood ;” which sense is preferred by the learned Vitrin- ga. Com: in loc.. The virtue- recommended in. the words before us, is what the- Greeks call cwpposuvn, and ts, according to the Roman orator, ‘* Non perturbari in Rebus asperis, nec tumul- tuantem de gradu dejici.” De Offic. L. i. And in the Scripture-language it.is to tarry, to wait the Lord’s leisure, and:to posséss the soul in pa~ tience ; and, in the phrase of, this writer, to set the heart. aright, to endure-constantly, and to, wait for his mercy. St Chrysostom’s Comment - upon the words is, é& rico % ovia-tm -avTe amematiiag yin. Hom. 39. Adv. Jud. Orat. 6.. According” ta Calmet, it is to shew-no signs of anger and impatience at any trying, or severe dispensation we may labour under, nor to let any hasty word foolishly escape us, as if we questioned or dis- puted God’s right, wisdom, or goodness, in sq... Visiting US, ; Ver. 3. Cleave unto him-and depart not awa, . that thou mayst be encreased at thy last.end.} i. e. That thou mayst: receive the just recompence: of thy patience. The Port Royal Comment un- derstands this of encreasing to perfection, that. nothing:so. much displays and improves:men’s virtue as submission and constancy in suffer- ings, that the harvest,. which will at. last ber reaped from thence, after patience has had. its erfect work, springeth up ‘unto eternal life. — .- Some copies accordmgly. read: the former part: of the verse thus, peor tiv, cropoviy, xonandiht .avTo,. % wn axosns, which is agreeable to the context, and invigorates the sense; or the meaning may. be, that in thine old. age, thou mayest abound with such good things as-may make thy latter: end comfortable. Under the old law God. re- warded the faithful services-of such as cleaved. unto him with. long life, victory over enemies,; and such like temporal blessings... Juniws ren- ders, “ Ut augearis ad finer usque tuum,”: that thou mayst always thrive and prospery, 238 even to thy latter cnd. Instead of apostatising or revolting from Gad, in whom alone the hap- piness of man centers, make the Psalmist’s re- solution your own, and devoutly say, “ It is good for me to hold me fast by God, and to put my trust in the Lord God,” Psal. Ixxiii. Wee Ver. 4, 5. Whatsoever is brought upon thee, take chearfully, and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate: for gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adver- sity.) Some copies have, i xzuive rarenraotwc owd- voovlat, alluding probably to the deliverance of the three holy children from the fiery furnace. The Arabic rendering of Sar dspéves, is much to be admired and approved, “ Id in quo te Deus tentaret, sustine cum gratiarum actione;” the rendering of what follows, 4 & aandypal: ra- mevsrios ow maxpoluungoy, 1S neither literal, nor full ; the true rendering is, be patient in hoping for -a change of our present low estate; and so Grotius takes it, ‘* Patiens esto in mutatione depressionis tuz speranda :” and Junius, ‘* & ad commutationem —dejectionis tuse sperandam esto longanimus.” ‘The Geneva version, be pa- tient in the change of thine affliction, is literal indeed, but reaches not the sense. ‘The Psal- mist seems better-to express it, Psal. xxxvii. 7. “ Hold thee still in the Lord, and abide pa- tiently upon him.” See James iv. 7. 1 Pet. v. 6. Pythagoras gives the same advice in the like circumstances, : “Ooses re Duwtovines tuxass Aedlel Arye ixuors, "Dry key eevigay Cxns, wecors Pigs, pend adyecrctiiler : Xeve. exn. v. 16. In suffering, or bearing afflictions, God enjoins not av apathy, he neither expects, nor wills an ‘utter insensibility ; he intends a feeling when he scourges, and allows a proper concern to be expressed, provided it be with modera- tion, subinission, and resignation. St Chrysos- tom thus illustrates the sense in ver. 5. oszep 73 xpvalor ro Duel Pasartipucvor, xabapwrepor yivelar, Tw, 5 ” puxn Sailer ominsoa., % K1vSUvOIC, pauidpolépa, % hae mpolepa, avec, 4 racer cuaglyuator aropparidia xnrida, i. e. by temptations and afflictions a man is brought, as it were, to the touchstone ; by these hisintrinsic excellency and goodness is discover- ed, and the greater the improvement and pro- ficieicy is under them, the more acceptable is the sufferer to God, and the brighter lustre is added. to his virtue. Ver.7. Aud go not uside, lest ye full.] i.e. Have not recourse to any unlawful means for succour, which men of little faith and great impatience ECCLESIASTICUS. are apt to fly to. Many.in time of tribnlat; are, tempted to fallaway after: different cs 104 some take to. evil courses, and the hidden Werks of dishonesty to get a living ; others havé'd: nied the faith, and for fear of -persecutioa,. op the sword, have turned toa false religion, Some have applied to, and trusted in evil arts, Head cery or magic, to help them in their: losses and distress, as was the folly of Saul, in'con. sulting the witch of Endor. _ The ptecept: of fearing the Lord, and waiting for his mercy js, tivugh the phrase is somewhat varied;.,often repeated in this chapter, and yet there,isng tautology in this respect ; it is only, says Osi- ander, to keep our faith awake, that we should not be tempted to think God had forgot ug, if at any time, in our opinion, God seems slack concerning his promise, and defers fop a while answering our expectation. Comm, in loc. eae Ver. 9. Ye that fear the Lord, hope. for. guid, and for everlasting joy and mercy.) , urrivds gg ayaba, % eg evpporurny aiavoe, 8 aee probably & true reading 1s £atoct tawiCey ty this construction signifies. to expect, wait for, or trust to, OF any thing or person. The Geneva. ers takes it in this latter sense, * Ye that’hae Lord, trust in good things, and in the, ‘vena 4 ing joy and mercy.” See the use of this phra y Psal. exxx. 5, 6. cxlv. 16. Isa. li. °S. according to the. LXX. By ayada, we may: unders and ve things of this life, which such ander ord have the greatest reason to.expent: ., did the Lord rain bread from heaven ‘upan faithful Israelites, and shall any doubs,wh he can at all times nourish, his people, orsaen food to those that stand in need of it, and,k in his goodness for it, though even, the.| 4 common supplies. The ravens shal} ‘ind. and bring it to Elijah, if God ~s0.comm 1 Kings xvii. 6. and a little oil, as longiapi pleaseth shall continue, running and not j ver. 14, Infinite is his power, and Jinfi his methods.and ‘ways, to, reward ‘and ¢ them that cleave to, and depend upon: bi Ver. 10. Look, at the generations of ol see, did ever any trust in the Lord and. jon founded ? or did uny abide in his’ feut,. forsaken? or whom did he éver' despiye tha ed upon him.| Run over the histories. of alla and nations, consider that of the patriatehss prophets in particular, which affords many Citar. ID. Shining:instances of the regard God has for his faithful, and .of his care and protection of them ‘di all:straits.and dangers. The Psalmist had observed, and was convinced of an extraordi- nary,providence watching over those that led a’ dly’ life, and says, ‘* 1] have been young, alid now am old, and yet saw I never the righte- ous forsaken, nor their seed begging . their bead,” -Psal. xxxvii. 35. To the same’ purpose is-that, Job iv. 7. “ Remember, 1 pray: thee, whoever perished being innocent; or where were the righteous entirely. cut off?” ‘This ob- servation is confirmed by an enumeration of articdlars,°1 Maccab. ii. 51—61. where the writer instances in Abraham, Joseph, Phinces, Joshua, Caleb, David, Elias, Danicl, and the three children ; and then concludes, in terms not unlike our author's, Thus. consider ye throughout all ages, that none that put their trust in him shall be evercome.”? On the con- tiary, did ever any rebcl, and fight against heaven, and:prosper ? Consider the Jewish na- tidn “in particular, they promised themselves, upon the death of the righteous heir, that the inheritance. would be their own, and yet how Were their ‘very hopes blasted ? Instead of se- citing their title, they ruined it ; instead of an sk pbetdd:- greatness, which they thought would last for éver, their power and jurisdiction had _a quick and fatal period: their supposed and Bbasted’ right to the divine favour, was swal- Wed up of ‘vengeance; ‘their patrimony was alidnated, and transferred to the Gentile world ; nd:this-probably by a wise providence, that thé Getitiles might dread the like ingratitude towards God, which made the Jews so delpor- ae ai instance, and such a dreadful spectacle f'the ‘divine vengeance.. And hath not the sathe indignation seized upon many churches of the Gentiles too for their disobedience, which before fell so heavy upon Jerusalem? For in. ei asad and deplorable condition are the drce'famous churches of Carthage, and the rest of Africa’? And:hath. not anti-christ fixed his sb4t in the temple of God, even in the once ¥éhierable seven churches of Asia? [f therefore nb’favourite church or people,, however they. might presume upon, were protected by their plivitéges, none ought to.think. themselves se- ciire of the divine favour any. longer than they pe ae do -his will, and.obey ‘his com- ndments, What a fine reflection. is this of. ‘ode author’s #° And. what.a noble: encourage- ftéhit ‘does.it contain in the light we. have.con- sidered ‘it'in, to. invite men to obedience, and ECCLESIASTICUS. 239 the fear of the Lord ? Can there be a stronger inducement'to picty in successive generations, than his confident appeal for the success of it, to the happy experience of all former ages ? Ver.a1. For the Lord is full of compassion and mercy, and forgiveth sins, and saveth in time ‘of afflictun.] As afflictions are generally occa- sioned ‘by sins, so it is observable here, that the pune duahoy, or God’s forgiving and remitting, sins, is mentioned first in order, before his relea- sing or delivering in time of affliction. And so. in Hezekiah’s sickness, when the prophet is sent unto him, the method of his recovery is the same, Isa. xxxvill. Thus, 2 Mac. iii. 32. and following verses, when Heliodorus had -been scourged for his sacrilegious enterprise, the priest is first said to have made an atonement, and God thereupon to have granted him life. See also Eccles. xxxviii. g. and the note on that place. And in the.cures wrought by Christ himself, we find that the forgiving. the sick. man’s sins, “* Son, thy sins are forgiven thee,” is the ordinary preface to his recovery. See Psal. ciii. 3. ; Ver. 12. Woe beto fearful hearts ..] i.e. such: as fall away in. time.of persecution. As fear is often recommended, so we find it as often for- bidden. .Unbelief isso commonly the. cause: of fear, and fear. so commonly leads to-unbelief, that we find them often linked together...: See ver, 13. and Rev. xxi. 8 where denci.3 amet oc- cur together.. When St Peter was frighted upon, the sea, and cried, “* Lord, save me,” as:he was just sinking ; although it was a good prayer, yet because it proceeded from carnal fear:wather. than-faith, our. Saviour. presently rebuked him, ‘© Wherefore didst thou doubt,, O thou of little: faith ?” And as faint heartedness argues want of faith ;.so patience in adversity, the tear-of God, and a constant reliance upon his promises and, mercy, are inspired and strengthened. by: faith. Some copies read, wai xapiiae drxaaic; and. such a one the Vulgate. seems to have followed, ren- dering vee duplici corde; but the present read- ing seems preferable, as the other is expressed in; the latter part of the verse. By faint hands here, we may. understand such as are negligent and slothful in the. work of, the Lord. .. The wri. ter to the Hebrews, using the same-expression, advises “ to lift. up the hands that hang. down,” TX ma pernivas xa pas, and the feeble knees,. and to make straight paths ;” i. e. to go straight for- ward in the paths. of holiness. See also Jerem.. xl viii. 10. ; Ibid. And the sinner that goeth tio ways.] i.e. 240 Such sinners as arc for serving two masters, God and Mammon ; God in outward appearance and profession, but the world in reality, and at the bottom of their hearts. God abhors such hypo- crisy and insincerity, he demands the whole heart, and undivided affections. He hath bought us, says St Austin, at so great a price, to make us his own, and to exclude any partner, “ Tanti emit, ut solus possideat.” And thus God declares, Zephan.i. 5 that “ he will cut, off them that worship the host of hea- ven, them that worship and swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham.” Such a double heart had the people of Sepharvaim, who at the same time feared the Lord, and served their own gods, 2 Kings xxvii. 28, 29. It was this double- mindedness which Elijah reproved, when he said to all the people, “ How long halt ye be- tween two opinions? If the Lord be God, fol- low him; but if Baal, then follow him,” 1 Kings xviil, The inconsistency of serving two such objects, or even their subsisting together, is in- timated in Dagon’s falling down before the ark, and in Moses’s refusing to sacrifice the abomi- nations of the Egyptians unto the Lord, Exod. vill. 26. * Wer. 13. Woe unto him that is faint-hearted, or he beheveth not, therefore shall he not be de- Jended.| The Vulgate is more explicit, “ Vz dissolutis corde, qui-:non credunt Deo, et ideo non protegentur ab eo;” i.e. such as either dis- ‘believe God’s promises, or that their prayers shall be heard and answered, and so do not ask in faith without wavering, such have no good reason to expect God’s protection, nor will they be so happy to find it ; whereas the Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, yea all-such as call upon him faithfully,” Psal. cxly. 18. But the promise is stil] stronger to them, Psal. XXXVil. 40, 41. “ The salvation of the righteous cometh of the Lord, who is also their strength in the time of trouble ; and the Lord shall stand by them and save them, he shall deliver them from the ungodly, and shall save them, because they put their trust in him ;” where the repeti- tion is not idle nor superfluous, but is purposely introduced to confirm the truth of the observa- tion. The Greek is still more observable and full, % BonPioe avroig Kupioe, % prod)as avrg, eeneas aures & apaplorwr, % core aves, bri AAmicay ex avTiv. If even the tathers of our flesh think an injury done them, when their children either distrust or refuse to apply to, or denend upon them, how much greater affront is offered to God, when, after so many tokens of his goodness to ECCLESIASTICUS. Tract. ix. in Johan.- ‘renders it by inspicere. Cant, his creatures, and of his readiness and ‘powe tS. assist them, they fix their dependence’ plea where, and seek a foreign help and protection? Or the meaning may be, that such ag. through a, distrust of God have recourse to unlaw means for their safety, or place too much de: pendence upon any, shall find themselves dis. appointed, and be taken in their own craftiness, And thus God, by his prophet, threatens the rebellious children, that, “ instead of taking counsel of God, strengthened themselves in thé. strength of Pharaoh, and trusted in the shadow of Egypt ; that the strength of Egypt should be their shame, and the trust in the shadow of. z gypt their confusion,” Isa. xxx. 2, 3. ; Ver. 14. Woe unto you that have lost patients: and what will ye do when the Lord shall visi you?] i.e. “ Visit your offences with the a and your sin with scourges.” The Vulgate reaches not the force of imxénferSas,: when’it The. version of the Ay rabic is far preferable, “ Quid facturi esti quum vos invaserit judicium ejus?” And Tat nius, I presume, means the same when he téfs’ ders “ Cum animadvertet Dominus.” The sedge may either be, if in smaller evils, which meq’ have at any time brought upon you, ye bavge betrayed great impatience, and have with dif culty been kept from revenge, ‘how will ye’ able to support yourselves under the fighty and avenging hand of God, or stand in his sig when he is angry, and is a consuming fite?/Q) according to Calmet, what answer will ye iq able to make him, who have disbelieved! word, and disobeyed his comniandments, wha” inquisition shall be made about your faith gg practice? The Port Royal Comment unde stands it in this farther sense, of being’ weaty well doing, not going on with, or finishiagie course well and happily begun ; the sufferidg” the good seed, which fell neither by the way side, nor on stony ground, nor among thorssg bring no fruit, at length, with all these advat tages, to perfection, through a want of petiey rance, and a patient continuance in well,doimg Such are doubly unhappy, as they not only Jor the benefit of all the good they formerly ® done, but will moreover be punished for tha apostacy in abandoning God, and being ashal ed of his service. | aa Ver. 16. They that love him shall be filled, 5 the law.| The Vulgate has. replebuatwra ipsius, Which the Geneva version follows, “:! that love him, shall be fulfilled with his Jaw Where there seems a small mistake, the reage ‘@rpuh img probably was designed to.be, “ They that Jove.bim, shall be fully filled with his law.” Syr. ‘« Diligentes eum addis. unt legein ipsius.” Arab, « Amici ejus exequuntur volimntatem ipsius;” and Goverdale is to the same effect, “ They that Joye him, shall fulfil his law,” i. e. they will search into, and study his law, to know and find out his, will from thence; and the Holy Spirit shall engrave on their -hearts the knowledge of: the word of God, because they sought it not merely for speculation, but to practise it, not for amusement only, but to be improved by it, not slightly or superficially, but to be filled with it. Mer. 17, 18. Vhey that fear the Lord will pre- mare their hearts, and-humble their souls in his sight, saying, We will full into the hands of’ the Lord, aud nut ints the hands of men; for as his miyesty is, so is hiy mercy.] The author seems to have had the words of David in his view, who had the melancholy option of three great evils which threatened him, 2 Sam, xxiv. 14. “Tam in a great strait; let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are great, and let us not fall into the hands of men,” especially as the context relates to adversity. The Vulgate renders, “ Si poenitentiam non egerimus, inci- demus in manus Domini,” i. e. into the hands of an angry God. In this sense the words re- spect Heb. xx. 31. and indeed tumovuede, which is more properly rendered incidemus than inci- ynus, gives some countenance to this. But the reflection in the following part of the verse, with which the chapter concludes, plainly determines for the first. ‘Ihe sense of the whole, as it stands connected, is, that, as terrible as God is, clothed with majesty and power, yet there is this plea- sing consideration, that his power is tempered with equity, that he is fullof mercy and loving- kindness, and therefore to rely upon his good- Ness, and submit to what he shall appoint by way of visitation and punishment, is far prefer- able, than to trust to the injustice, malice, and feyengeful passions of men, whose mercies them- selves, as they are falsely called, are often cruel. ‘Whereas all the dispensations of God are full of tenderness ; when he spares us, it is through his Mercy ; when he threatens or punishes us, it is with a merciful intent of doing us good, the gomfortable consideration of which glorious at- tnbute, in some measure disatms his thunder, and makes it a less fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It was the dreadful Majesty of God, and an apprehension of his fu- lure wrath, which determined Susannah, when siaitened om every side, and in imminent danger ECOLESIASTICUS. 24% of death, or sinning, to make this picus resolu. tion to fall into the hands of the elders, rather than sin in the sight of the Lord, ver. 22, 23. The power of God, considered abstractedly, may fill us with terror; but that the mercy of God is as infinite as his majesty, isa never failing spring of comfort. The author of the Book of Wisdom, will help us to conceive aright in this matter, see Wisd. xii. 16. where he observes, that that power, which in men is the foundation of in- Justice and oppression, in God © Ys the begin- ning of righteousness, and because he is the Lord of all, it makes hiin to be gracious unto all.” See also ver, 18. and the note upon both. CH AP. 2 HEE Lord hath given the futher honour over the children, and hath confirmed the authority of the mother over the seny.] i.e. he hath enjoined honour to be paid them by theirchildrer, or made them honourable with regard to them ; and thus the ‘ligurin version, “ Dominus pa- trem liberis honorabilem reddidit.” His willis, that their children should render them reverence, honour, and obedience, having made them as it were his representatives on earth, and his su- pfeme authority is in some sort vested and lodged in them, to instruct, command, reprove, or punish them. Hence some have asserted an almost absolute authority in parents. It is cer- tain, that anciently and even under the old law, the parents had a power to sell their children, Exod. xxi. 7. if they themselves were reduced to extreme poveriy ; and in some cases had 3 Jurisdiction of life and death over them. « Kpiei epec, which the margin renders, judgment, and the Vulgate, judicium, and our translators more properly, authority, is a Hebraism, for shaphat in that language signifies both to judge and to rule. Ver. 3. Whoso honoureth his father, maketh an atonement for his sins.} Our version follows a copy Which read iX:aazsxcJar, as the Alex. MS also has it ; but in most editions it is %iaacerar, peceute exprabit, i. e. shall obtain remission and forgive- ness of his own sins when he prayeth ; and thus St Ambrose, quoting ‘these words, expounds Liracilu, in die Oralionis sna exaudietur, as in ver. 5. The Tigurin version has, votorum quutidia- norum compos erit, Which perhaps is the mean- ing of the Vulgate, iz orutione dierum exaudietur. Some understand this of the father’s sins, that a dutifu] son will pray for the forgiveness of his father’s sins. But the first sense 1 think prefer- able. Ver. 2. Hh 242 Ver. 4. And he that honoureth his nother, is es one that layeth up treasure.) i. e. He layeth up @ store of good deeds to recommend him to God’s favour and blessing. See 1 Tim. vi. 19. Tob. iv. g, Where a-rebncaupifov is used in the same sense. It has been observed by learned men, that hu- man laws generally provide only that due re- gard and honour be given by children to their fathers, but take no notice of the mother, as may be seen in some Persian laws mentioned by Aristotle, the Roman ones recited in the digests and constitutions, and in several passages of the Greek philosophers, which occur in Epictetus and Simplicius ; all which consult only the ho- nour of the father. But God in his law takes care to preserve a just reverence to both the parents equally, as the persons whose ministry he uses, to bring a young generation into the world. See Grotius in Decal. Prov. i. 8. And this wise author, like another Solomon, bred up under the same divine institution, presses the duty owing to both very largely in the first six- teen verses of this chapter. Ver. 5. Whoso honoureth his father, shall have joy of his own children.) i. e. God shall bless that man with a numerous posterity, who pays the reverence and respect due to his own pa- rents ; and thus the Arabic takes it, “ Qui pa- trem suum honore affecerit, multos habebit fili- os ;” or, God will give such a one obedient and dutiful children; who, by their discreet conduct, and religious behaviour, will be a joy and com- fort tohim. The Greek has only in general, vpparOnadlas tm} réxvore ; Our translators properly enough insert the words, his own, and the Sy- riac confirms their sense, jucunditatem percipiet e filiis suis. They will prove to him such, as he himself was to his own parents, “ Upon the same account and grounds, says a very learned prelate, that any one expects obedi- ence from his own children, he must know that he ought to pay it to his parents likewise. And where is the parent that does not think it reasonable that his children should obey him even against their inclinations, and prefer his wisdom and experience to their own wills and weak understandings, and trust to his affec- tion, love, and favour, rather pursue their own humours >” Fleetwood’s Rel. Dut. p. 26. It Was a wise saying therefore which is. recorded of the philosopher Thales, ** Such a behaviour as you shew to your parents, such expect from your own children,” ¥¢ ay tps esevélung TOS yor Vevol, Tes aUTYS ~eODdexy 4 wapd coy rixvwy, Apud. Laert. |. i. ECCLESIASTICUS... Ver. 6. He that honoureth huis: faihe shellehigg along life.) 'This'may either be.strictly state according to the prémise.in: the fifth ‘com tmnde ment, “* Honour thy father; and ithy:!mo that thy days may be long upon: earthy; which the Lord thy God: giveth thee :? -oroitensy mean, since long life is promised -ta 'thé:pbbag} vance of God’s other commandments: |ileetvigp; that dutiful children shall in gencrabdye cblesy ed. Long life being counted” a: blessingpits therefore in Scripture frequently: used fork And the Jews understood it no otherwiseythald of being in general blessed. ° 4 Miowly dot Ibid. And he thut is obedient unto: theikdld shall be a comfort unto his mother.} ivcey We that obeys Gad’s commandment in thib pani cular, will comfort, support, and succdarthig mother under any, or all the burthens:andbng cessities of life, particularly will be rt and provide for her in her old age,whetb's on helpless: For so 1 would understand iinorlaisg wilépa ave, and in this sense artrauvere isl prdlad bly taken, Philemon, ver. 20: » Or-it m4) areas that a virtuous good child will be dSbtessing, and occasion much joy to his mothen! hts Homer introduces Hector embracing: hisssog Astyanax and praying that he may provessiy tuous, and may be a comfort to hisimothe, xapein 38 pire uxlnp. The Oriental versions ‘ue derstand the place of the reward which:attengs such obedience. Syr. ‘ Optime® meteturidé Deo, qui matrem honorat ;” and Arabist Op timum erit premium ejus propter vbetliontam matri impensam.” oN Van boeba7 Ver. 7. He that feareth the Lord so wilh service unto his parents, as to his masters.) sxe. He will behave himself towards them withthe, fear of a servant, as well as the reverencerofes child. See Luke xv. 29. Mal. iii/ 171: Gal. iv. 1. Phil. ii. 22. Fathers and anothetg hawt aright over their children by giving them: bint, superior to what masters have over thcirjslares by purchase, The one is founded on foret abd necessity ; the other on nature, and those mai, berless obligations, which children awe to:then that were the cause of their coming intgithe world ; for next unto God they are the aati of their being and existence, health, pawéf, an all the advantages either of body or souliwhieh they possess. A slave in the language:af Serif ture, Exod. xxi. 21. is the money of histaastf, but children are: the bload and.substaneett their parents.:: A slave owes ‘his tlabogr {am service to his master; but'children 'rewedemte, love, gratitude, succour, and all the kind'#-' Cakpr ddl): toniswhich:it Andis not the parent’s curse, which. Jacob so much dreaded, when for. eed from a-parent by undutifulness and ill u- sage, as strong and fatal wow as formerly, and. cur authors observation as applicable ‘to at] o ~ 244 persons'af this time, as heretofore to a Jew and: his children ? St Austin mentions «a most mes? lanchely instance of ten children, who ‘were cursed by their mother, all of whom for many years felt the effect of her imprecation, by a continual:trembling of all their limbs, De Ci- vit. Dei, |. xxit. c. 8. Wer, 10. Glory not in the dishonour of thy fa- ther, for thy father’s dishonour, is no glory unto fhee,} St Chrysostom, quoting this passage, illustrates it by the instance of Cham, who ex- posed his father’s shame.and nakedness. * Chil- dren ought te be exceeding careful to conceal the faults and miscarriages of their parents ; the same picty would have endeavoured to cover Noahs cruelty or injustice, had he been guilty of them, that was so careful to conceal his nakedness and folly ; for they are also the shame and nakedness of a inan’s understanding ; and such infirmities being no tess dishonourable than those of the body, the like caution should be used in not discovering or exposing them.” Fleetwood’s Rel. Dut. p.77. Much less should any assume the liberty to throw reflections. up- on a parent, torender him little and despicable in the esteem of others; We meet with and detest this behaviour in Absalom, who labour- ed to depreciate David his father in the sight of his people, and to undermine and weaken him in their good opinion and favour. ‘* For when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, Absalom said to him, There is no man deputed of the king to hear thee ; O that | was made judge in the land, I would do to every man elt and justice.” And by this intriguing and insinuating address, he stole the hearts of the men of Israel, 2 Sam. xv. 2,6. Vhis in. any other was criminal, ina son, quite unnatural. There is that near relation and intimacy between parents and children, that nothing can affect the welfare or honour of the former, without being communicated to, and descending upon the latter, the branches will in proportion share in the good or ill con- dition of the root; if this sickens, they of. course wither, Or the sense may be according to Calmet, Be not ashamed of thy birth and original, for this is a reflection upon thy pa- rents, and in consequence a blot upon thine own self. Alexander the Great thought him- self more than mortal, and. was ashamed. ta. pass any longer for the son of Philip ; but when he claimed Jupiter Ammon for his father, he paid so indifferent a compliment to the honesty E€CLESIASTICUS.: Citir.dit) of-his mother Olyrapins, as: torendet ceventhig own birth tainted cand suspicious. ' 107 t-anr9 Ver. 12,43. My son, help thy fathevlvinwile age, and grieve him not us long «as he liveth raed” if his understanding fail, have patience 'wtth deh ¥ Though old age is generally attended vrwiting number of infirmities, yet neither .any -weaké ness of body, or decay of 'senseand rensomly give any right to a child to despise :bis yatents, With regard to their children, they alwayssqijse tain a-character that demands. respect, whick neither age, nor its. attendant evils:can, or aujhe to diminish. And particularly im the last'stage of life, when they are helpless, and, as it were, infants a second time, they demand . all that care, compassion, and tenderness at their-chily dren’s hands, when they are going out 'of the world, which they themselves happily: ex rienced from their parents at their first coming. intoit. All the ancient philosophers giverthe same lesson as our author: Plato says, thatthe that has in his heuse a father or mother en feebled with age, ought to regard tlemasa treasure, and-to be assured that they cart ndver want a tutclar deity so long as they continus with them, and are taken care of by themnDe Legibus Hesiod observes, that the gods: will certainly punish the ill-usage of aniagedsas - rent, by some great calamity inflicted-ot the child, "Epy. § ‘Hutp. ver. 29. Mess. sdaPoot Royal in their Comment. on the place, proper ly observe, that what is said by our authoref the fathers of our flesh, is very: applitableite our spiritual ones, we should respect theitspenl sons, revere their authority, and cover evenctiett, personal defects and failings. ; whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” Bishop Tay!or’s Un. Necess. The wise man does not here discountenance a weil- grounded assurance of pardon, which religion even encourages us to hope for and expect, and has appointed sacraments, and other means of reconciliation, and bids men rely upon God’s promises, grace, and mercy, for their accept- ance; he only condemns an over security, a cri- minal excess in our confidence, which may be- tray us into presumption. Lastly, If wept Haasps be understood of the act by which God is ap- peased, viz. the offering, the expiation, by what- ever means it is made, as sinazuor, thiancpa, and &iaacg, are generally, I believe taken; then cpagli2 which follows, may signify, a s:n-offer- ing. See Lev. iv. 21. Rom. vii. 3. and so the original word in the Hebrew, and Péaculum in Latin, signify both the crime and expiation of it. But the sense either way comes to the same thing ; a caution to be fearful of provoking God, by many sin-offerings, or propitiations for sin, means no more, than to be afraid of provoking him by repeating the acts of sin. Some copies read, wepi nao ps uh agoboc yire éy mT reovae pee" orporSemwee apeflies tp duapria. “ De propitiatione ne esto securus in abundantia, ad addendum peccata super peccata.” The meaning of which addi- tional phrase either is, that we should not be too confident, or so abundantly secure, iy watcracus apoGo¢, that our sins shall be forgiven, as to take a handle from thence to commit them with the greater liberty. Or the sense may be, that we ought not to be so secure, or trust ty wacoresna, in abundance, or riches, as to imagine, shat by them we shall have our sins redeemed, and taken away ; and so under the notion of being able to purchase forgiveness, be tempted to sin the more freely. If watovecxic may be taken in this last sense, as some commentators, and Latin versions take it ; this passage, which the Roman- ists have abused to their purpose of indulgen- cies, will be found to conclude directly against that doctrine. Ver. 8. Set not thine heart upon goods unjustly gotten, for they shall not profit thee in the day of calamity. pi erexe ini xyhuaow aSixcs. Almost all the editions have vity wgtances, but the reading followed by our translators, vdty wpeaice: oe, seems preferable. Solomon confirms the truth of the observation, when he says, “* Treasures of wicked- ness profit nothing,’ Prov. x. 2. When the author here asserts, that riches unjustly gotten, will profit nothing in the day of calamity, he either means, that they will oe prevent nor K 258 alleviate any illness; or that they will be of no service to a man at the time of his death, be- cause he must then quit all his large possessions, nor will the sovereign Judge have any regard to, or consideration of the power, dignity, or estate, of such offenders, as have enriched themselves by repeated acts of injustice; but naked shall they descend into the grave, and naked shall they rise from thence, to appear at the great tri- bunal: according to that of the Psalmist, * Be not thou afraid, though one be made rich, or if the glory of his house be encreased, for he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him,” Psal. xlix. 16, 17. Or else the meaning may be, that riches gotten by deceit, shall add to a man’s torment, and be the fuel to increase it, which is finely exemplified in the parable of the rich man, Luke xvi. 19. But may we not understand xphuara ada inthe sense of the mammon of unrighteousness, Mayert ri¢ abixias, Luke xvi. 9. so called by our blessed Saviour, not only be- cause riches are often the effect of fraud, and the fruits of unrighteousness, but because they often lead men into sin, by filling their owners with pride, and put them upon doing some violent or unjust action; or they may be so called on ac- count of their deceitfulness, in contradistinction to spiritual good things which are true, and more durable. See August. in Psal. xlviii. or because they are more generally the portion of the wicked ; or lastly, because men are apt to set too immoderate a value on them, and sacrifice to them as their God: the Psalmist has express- ed all, or most of these senses, Psal. Ixit. 10. ‘““ O trust not in wrong and robbery, give not yourselves unto vanity, if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.” Ver. 9. Winnow not with every wind.) This is a proverbial expression, Piatus has one very like it, ** Ubi ventus est, velum verte.” ‘The advice seems nearly the same with that of Ephes. iv. 14. ** Not to be tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doc- trine ;” see also Heb. xiii. 9. Plutarch ex- presses himself in like manner, 4 warzi adya zad- yior, Gore? mrvMate, wapadideys tavjév, Calmet un- derstands this of one, who is inconstant in his sentiments, and wavering in his conduct, wha judges not for himself, bat is apt to receive all nnpressions. Qtne who is so complaisant, as to say and do. every thing to ingratiate him- self; and as Theophrastus describes such sort of men, will, if a dispute arise, espouse both sides, to give no offence, Hix. Xap. wepi eptoxy, ECCLESIASTICUS. CHaAP?¥, Whereas a prudent and wise man Will Seridtig-: ly and impartially Weigh: on whiclr ‘stée!:the truth lies, and continue stedfastly aiid-‘fitinly- attached to it ; and not: imitate those double: dealers,- who having no: steady “principles:Vof* their own, are just what other. people Would. have them. According to that: of thé! poet, “ Negat quis? nego. Ait quis? ‘ai6. "Fé: Ibid. Go not into every way.) -Truth-istuti. form, and but one; to fall in with every “opi” nion is the way to miss of it. Senéca has ‘a. thought like this, ** Qui quo destinarit, perve.' nire valt, unam sequi viain, non per mult4s’va.. gari debet. Non ire istud, sed errare est/??’" « : Ver. 10. Be stedfast in thy understanding. }: i.e. Search narrowly: into the truth,’ and?'re-’ solutely maintain what thou knowest ‘to !be' true; and to avoid the inconvenience ofwin- nowing with every wind, and changing” yodr. opinion upon almost every occasion, haves well informed judgment, and a stedfastness an¥' constancy of mind, to act according to it! "W- man of this character will not be tooeisy’br- credulous ; but when any new opinion or ddc- trine offers itself, or is proposed by others, WH" strictly examine the grounds thereof, and’Gf upon a due and serious wetghing of it, -he’ fihds reason to approve it, asa solid truth, will glad? ly acquiesce in it, and not be soon shaken’ ix mind. There is a passage in Seneca, much’ts. the same purpose, ‘* Cogitationes vagas}'ac’vee. luti somno similes, non recipies, quibus’si anf. mus tuus se oblectaverit, tristes’ remanebBi!. Sed cogitatio tua stabilis & certa ‘sit... Simo" quoque tuus not sit inanis.? The Vuloate+ty.' ders, ** Esto firmus in via Domini,” foltowiist perhaps a copy which read, iu ésngifutret ty ovttess ©w, a corruption I] presume of og. But the’setise’ however of it is good, and the advice useful.“ Ibid. And let thy word be the. same.y” &e teh. oe 6 adyoc, ** Let thy word be one,” i: é. let ‘thy: speech or discourse be of a ‘piece,’ consistént with itself, according to Grotius ; or ‘let thy - words be according to the inward sentiment‘f thy mind, and alter not out of fear'or affée.’ tion. According to Calmet, the ‘sense is, Let thy sentiments continue the same, and do-not shuffle or equivocate in thy words or actions,’ that men may know how to depend upon tliée,’ and have, or continue an esteem and regard for you, for there is no safety or dependance upou a double tongue, ver. 9. fee Ver. 11. Be swift to hear.] This is agreea- ble to the apostle’s advice, Be swift to hear, slow to speak,” Jam. i. 19. i.-c. be swift te CHAP. V " heary-not every sort of communication, but ‘such as ‘is profitable to the use of: edifying,” Ephes.ziv. 29. Accordingly Junius renders, Bsto celer ad bene audiendum ;”” and St Je- gom’s bible.mare strongly and explicitly, ‘* Es- 4o:mansuetus ad andiendum verbum Dei, ut intelligas,”?, to which agrees the Geneva ver- sion. ‘Lhe sentence that follows, viz. let thy Jifa.be sincere, i. e. without artitice or hypo- ‘ qfisyy isscarce in any of the Greek copies, it is omitted. also in the Vulgate and Oriental veysionss ‘The Complut. indeed has it, from whence, our translators, and Dr Grabe took it ; - buttit.seems improperly placed here, for it dis- turbs.the sense, and spoils the connection. ~ Jbid, With patience give answer.) St James expresses. the same. by Bpxcye cig 7d awatioas, i. 19. See,also Prov. xxix. 20. in the LXX version. It.is asign.of great weakness for a man to an- swer dastily.and unadvisedly, and without hav- yng.any.segard to time, place, or persons, or perhaps.even truth itself. Some Greek copies therefore very :properly read, ¢0éyfo aaixaicw dpSiv, ine, give a true and right answer. ‘he Vul- gate is.very full, ‘* Cum sapientia proferas re- spousum:verum,” rm Ver, 12. If thou hast understanding, answer thy neighbour ; ifi not, lay thine hand upon thy mouth...) |.¢ Digito compesce labellum,”’ as the;Latin.phrase is. Isocrates has a maxim very. like this, Suo wow xaipee re afyew 1 @épi ay ofa Sc F4RGC aegi dy avalnatey ere, tv 82 role danoi a uesroy oiyar,,% Myer, 1. e. Observe two rules with respect fo:speech, to speak only of such things as thou Gace, or of such as you are under a Teggssity,to speak to;.in all other cases it is better to be silent; which is intimated by the phrase of laying the hand upon the imouth, ‘There js the like expression, Job xxi. 5. xxix. 9, Accordingly among the Egyptians, Harpo- Crates the god: of silence, is pictured with his finger on his mouth, to recommend ary tixeszoc, 4 well timed silence, or the true government of fhe tongne. The Vulgate inserts a reason for such a Caution in speech, ‘* Ne capiaris in ver- ho andisciplinato, & confundaris. ae 13, Honour and shame is in talk.] So- lomon has more fully expressed this, when he says,‘ Life and death are in the power of the tongue,” Prov. xviii. 21. Nothing is more serviceable, and at the same time more mis- chievous-‘than the tongue ;,,it advances men to honour, or exposes them,to shame, according to wié goad. or .jll.use that men, make of the b esging of speech. ,, Jt is the seat, of, persuasion ECCLESIASTICUS. 259 in some, and a world of iniquity in others ; it shines in, and recommends the orator, eloquent in a good cause, and disgraces the libertine labouring in a bad one.. When employed to bless and praise God, it is the best member we have; when abused to blaspheme its Maker, and curse men, it is set on fire of hell, and will sink men into it. It is therefore of the last importance to know how to govern the tongue, for without a discreet conduct of it, a man can neither be useful in social life, nor esteemed re- ligious before God. Ibid. The tongue of man is his fall...} This is rather too laxly expressed ; the Vulgate very properly adds, ** Lingua imprudentis subver- sio est ipsius.”? Euripides hasa sentiment very like this, cyaaror cwuarav 73 rénog Susuyla. Ver. 14. Be not called a whisperer, and Tie not in wait with thy gy ose Whispering is the speaking ill of our neighbour privately, and doing him an ill turn by a secret and sly insinu- ation to his prejudice. This sort of slander is a poisoned arrow that flieth in the dark, that wounds covertly, when a man is not aware of it, and is very properly called by this writer, lying in wait with the tongue. KzJeaau2 and 6c, backbiting and railing differ from this vice only in degree. Solomon has admirably de- scribed the character af the whisperer, Prov. xxvi. 20, 22. “ Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out, so where there is no tale-bearer, [in the Heb. whisperer,] strife ceaseth—The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds, and go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” Such insidi- ous persons are with reason compared to the serpent, which bites without giving any warn- ing; one feels the sting without knowing from what quarter the mischief came. Solomon uses this comparison, Ecclesiast. x. 11. “ Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment, and a babler is no better,” according to our translatioh ; but the Hebrew words truly rendered, are much closer to the purpose: “ A serpent will bite without any warning,” Vulg. tz s2/entio, without the least noise or intimation, and a babler, Vulg. qui occulte detruhit, is no better. ; Ibid. For a foul shame ts upon the thief, end an evi! condemnation upon the double tongue... ] The Vulgate renders, ‘“ Denotatio pessima super bilinguem,” and Junius, * Bilingui pessiina cdu- demnatio,” as if it were worse to be a whisperer than a thief. And indeed there is some reason to think so; for the thief, or cheat, aims only at money, and is generally.so scandalous and notorious, that one-may either avoid him, or by ‘i 2 260 chance take -him ;7but ‘the base and secret whisperer one cannot possibly guard agninst, nor even know who, or where he is. The thief tod is often forced upon robbery, and stealing through want and necessity, and in such a case can plead a-sort of an excuse, Prov. vi. 30. but the whisperer does as great, if not a greater in- jury to his neighbour, without any advantage to himself. And whoever considers the great va- lue which Solomon sets upon a good name, making it preferable even to great riches, Prov. xxii. 1. cannot think the taking away a man’s property to be the greater crime. See Rom. i. 29, 30. where whisperers and backbiters are ranked amongst the vilest of persons, and such as are worthy of death. Ver. 15. Be not ignorant of any thing m a great matter, or small.) Mf this be understood strictly, such a perfection as this is not possible in our weak state, and short continuance here ; the meaning rather is, Endeavour to get as much knowledge and insight into affairs as you can, whether they be matters of speculation, or practice. ‘The Vulg. seems to understand the words in a judicial sense, * Justifica pusillum & magnum similiter,” as if the meaning was, that in any suit or controversy, the same fair and impartial judgment should be pronounced in the cause of a poor, as well as 4 much richer, or more powerful person, according to that charge -of Moses, Deut. i. 17. There is also another sense of this passage, Fall not into any sins of igno- rance or inadvertancy, commit not any sin either great or small, but have such a guard over your- self, as not to be surprised into them by any great or little ocgasion. And thus the Syriac understands it, “* Multum, vel parum ne delin- quas.” And so ajroew is often used by the Hel- lenists for “Errate, peccare, imprudenter agere,” and as equivalent to avasfaver; and so it is often to be understood in the e, see Numb. xii. 11, &c. a Esdr, viii. 77. and by this writer himself it seems to be so, used, chap. xxiii. 3. Xxvili. 7. The learned Hogker's remark upon this passage is, “ That we should be diligent observers of circumstances, the little regard whereof is the nurse of vulgar folly ; and Solomon’s great at- tention thereto was what made him so eminent above others; for he gave good heed, and pierced every thing to the very bottom, and by that means gained more knowledge, and be- came the author of many parables.” Eccl. Pol. p- 189. : CHAP. VI. pe STEAD of a friend, become not an enemy.} The whole of this verse has been thought ECCLESLASTICUS. Crag: VI. by many to belong to the fifth chapter, be, cause.the conclusion of that chapter seems: ab: rupt, consisting only of one period or sentence, contrary to the general method ‘of: this wwriter;; 2. This chapter, it is observable, begins’ m:the. Greek copies with a conjunction, 4 a7? ¢hups viva éxes¢, which implies some connection with: what went before. 3. Some copies, particular- ly the Latin ones, do actually so connect them; , and according to Rabanus, this sixth chapter does not begin till the 5th verse in the common editions. Lastly, The context, according to o- thers, seems to require it, being probably a con, tinuation of the same subject: For the words,., “Instead of a friend, become not am enemy,” may very well refer to the sin of whispering, or backbiting, which is the more aggravated,|as they who are guilty of it, pretend triendship for another, that they may traduce him more.ef, fectually, and under that mask undermine him more successfully, nawig Sraboaie TpOmCE, Ks Te. ks A new way of accusation, says Polybius, to hart a man by affecting to praise him, and by-swact . speech to introduce the poison that is to: follow, . An artful device this! that while a-man-qwould, pass for a friend by the praises he lavishes an another, and the regard professed for his good: qualities, he may slily insinuate something his disadvantage, and by an open decharatiéniine his favour, may the more easily ibe: believed: when he secretly spreads his faults, and..stara- some ill-natured exception. Like: the man: im. Horace, who was giad to hear of his friend Caay pitolinus, whom he knew so well, and. had rei i ceived such favours from ; but, to undo’ali, ands cast some slur upon him, could edd by! wap wf) an invidious reflection, otra bbe Sed tamen admiror, quo pacto judicium illud ‘ld Fugerit. ee Ibid. For thereby thou shalt inherit an ill name, shame, and-veproach.} Our version follows’ 4 ' copy which read, "Oroux yap srornpiy, aloxumnes bre1d0¢ xanporourserc. Heeschelius has, xAMporophiody. in the third person, and so the Vulgate, “ Tine properium & contumeliam malus hereditabit” understanding by éreua wornpsy, not an ill napie,’ but a wicked person. And so indeed Sropti ig! sometimes used. See Acts i. 15. Rev. iit. *4i x1. 13. and <>w the Hebrew noun, is taken‘in’ like manner, Num. iii. 40, 43. xxvi. 53, 55 and ather places, te fiddled Ver. 2. Extol not thyself in the counsel’ of thine own heart, that thy soul be not torn im pieces as a bull {straying atone.] he ai Siaprayy dc rab pes duliew. Phere-are many: difficulties in this passage: 1. lt may be enquired whether quxi aay. Vi. oe be rightly: rendered hg. sov/, The Vulgate hagys* Ne virtus tua elidatur,” to which agrees theOriental versions ; but. what follows in the ‘Syfiao,.*° Ne quasi Taurus robur taum quzerat,”” jg) so (flat: and = inexpressive, «that 1 suspect some mistake in the writing or translating the Syriae word, and possibly the true rendering ‘should ‘be, “* Ne. quasi Taurus robur tuuin iquatiat, folia tua excutiat,”” &e. 2. It is not altopether certain, that Saprale signifies to fear in-meces, either in the ¢, or apocryphal books, but rather fo spoil or plunder, though diripio ‘signifies both. 3. The words straymg alone, heve nothiny in the Greek te answer them in arty edition. And thongh the translators some- ‘times: inclose thus [ ] what they’ found in some particular copies, yet this, [ believe, is intone. It seems to have crept into the text ‘through some mistake, or from a marginal note, or to be added by the translators them- selves (for they venture on greater liberties in ‘making additions in the apocryphal writings) fof ilustration sake, and to throw some light npon''the obscurity of the passage. 4. The wordsas now inserted, may be apptied differ- ently... would suppase the translators rather meant them of the soul, and its danger through ‘eonceit, and wandering by itself; for why a dull should be in more danger to be torn in pieces by straying alone, than amidst the herd, where-a contest otten does arise: or why a bull ‘shoul be pitched upon at all, rather than some weaker animal, to be torn in pieces, whose na- ture is snch, especially in tts rage, as to rend, tear, and over-turn all before him, is not so elear. ‘Fo avoid this difficulty therefore some have fancifully understood this passage of ‘Mount Taurus, because there happened by good luck to be a mountain of that name ; and since trees, leaves, and fruit, are mentioned in the next verse, they must undoubtedly be- fone to, and grow upon it. Drusius’s conjec- tare, that the wrand-father might write “tn, meaning a turtle, d¢ rpu/éy, and the grandson take it in the Chaldee sense, as equivalent to @bull, is ingenious enough ; and Psal. Ixxiv.. 19. May seem to pive soine colour to it; but this conjecture is countenanced by no MS lege edition, or ancient version. If ravpoe indeed the true reading, understanding it of the animal, possibly it may refer to bulls being torn in pieces by lions, which we may Presume to have happened often, if not in Je- Tusalein, at least in other places : A bull being Pitched upon for the simile, rather than a weak- ECCLESIASTICUS. 26¢e er Creature, as: being more likely to trust in his own strength, which answers to a man’s ex. tolling himself in the counsel of his own heart. Upon the whole, I can conceive no good sense arising from our version, and yet I apprehend a natural one from the Greek, zz. Lift not up thyselfin the desires or lusts of thine owa heart, lest thy soul be distracted, hampered, or pulled contrary ways, like a bull in toils. It is a proverbial saying, and not an uncommon one, that a man who is governed by his.owr unruly passions and lusts is like a wild bull in. a net: And to this, the Arabic seems to accord, ‘* Libidines anime tue ne sequaris, ne te in Miseriam impeliant, viresque tuas debilitent, quasi Taurus cui Pabulum objicitur.” Here ] suspect a mistake in that version, for in what sense can Padulum stand here ; or what light does it afford to the comparison ? But if: the original word be rendered by ¢ragula, plage, in- dago, oy some such term, then the above inter- pretation will be complete, and the simile much improved. Nor is Badwell’s interpretation of the mind being hurried. away by its own pas-. sions and desires, like a wild and lustful bull, to be despised ; but there may be some doubt whether teprafw be so used; at least Epictetus who gives the like advice, ui cvrapralire ot & pare feaia, uses a different preposition. Grotius rene. ders the words of our author, ** Ne forte ani- mus tuus (prafractus & contumax) diripiat te, ut Taurus ;?? and so the Geneva version, ‘* Lest thy soul rend thee as a buil.”? If d:eprasy be the true reading here, and has the authority of some Greek copy, probably ce followed it ori- ginally, and was absorbed afterwards in the , preceding on, or ce bemg understood here, on. might be changed into yz to make sense. Some have thought the passage before us an imitation of Psalm vii. 2. But if our author alludes to’ this, why should it not have been a closer imi- tation, and preserved os aio, instead of substi- tuting d¢ ravgec ? Lt was scarce worth while, as Bochart observes to allude to-that place, only to pervert the sense of it. But there may pos- sibly be some help. found out to restore the true reading and sense. For are not the words as @ bull, at least disjointed, and out of their - true place? The Vulgate certainly countenan- ces this conjecture, and so does Jerom’s Bible, placing these words at the end of the first sen- tence, ** Non te extotlas in cogitatione anime . tuze, velut Vaurus,’? i, e. extol not thyself in the counsel of thine own heart, as a bull that is incontioulable, and headstrong. The simile is . 262 very just in this light, and properly enough applied to a heady, obstinate, and over-bearing temper ; and if other editions concurred to sup- port it, would at once remove most, if not all the difficulties. See chap. v. 2, 3. If none of these solutions be satisfactory, [ shall only observe farther, that the whole sentence which occasions all the perplexity, is entirely omitted in Ald. and the Basil editions. Ver. 3. Thou shalt eat up thy leaves, and lose thy fruit, and leave thyself as a dry tree.]_Gro- _tius contends that the reading here should be in the third person, xaJepayrla:, axonice, &e, and he is countenanced herein by the Syriac version. Leaves, are a figure for the promising prospect of success ; it is a beautiful metaphor, taken from the management of trees, whose leaves if pulled off, either kill or starve the fruit. See Hales’s Veget. Stat. p. 323, 4, 5. So the Psalmist, ** His leaf shall not wither, and what- soever he doth, (Heb. putteth forth] it shall prosper.” By losing thy fruit is meant, Thou shall defeat thine own ends, blast thine own hopes, and fail of the success thou aimest at. ‘The becoming a dry tree, which is the next particular, is the natural consequence of the Joss both of fruit and leaves, .2. e. thou shalt be good for nothing. A proper description of the aman, who is ruled and carried away by his own lusts; or thus, be not proud of any ex- cellency, natural, or moral, for by such a be- haviour thou wilt take away from the merit of what would otherwise recommend thee ; thy good qualities will lose all their grace, and be no longer an advantage, or ornament to thee ; for modesty should both conceal and perfect thy goodness, as leaves both shade and melio- rate the fruit. Selfopiniatry is to merit what the worm was to Jonah’s gourd ; it decays and ruins the roct, and thereby destroys what was most beautiful and promising. Ver. 5. A fair speaking tongue will encrease kind grectings.| Isocrates has well expressed this, 79 pir reer yins girompoatJopoc, x, 7. a. * Be polite in your manner and address, and courteous and affable in your words ; it is an instance of po- liteness, civilly to salute those one meets with, and of affability to speak to them in an agree- able and engaging manner.” Ad Demon. Ci- cero has the like observation, “ Difficile dictu est, quantopere conciliet animos hominum comi- tas, affabilitasque Sermonis.” De Offic. This may also be applied to friendship, which the context warrants 5 for a person Of a svveet and obliging temper will always promise most to be ECCLESIASTICUS. Cuap. VJ, ‘a real friend. There are 4 thousand endear. ments and compliances in the exercise of friend. ship, that make good natyre as necessary as ri. gid virtue and honesty. “ Strict. virtue .in friendship, says a learned writer; is-like the exact rules of mathematics in musical composi. tions, which indeed are necessary to make har. mony true and regular; but then there muatcbe something of air anid delicacy: in» it-;tooygo sweeten and recommend it,: or else it willbe but flat and heavy.” Norris’s Theory of .Love, p- 129. hou 9 Ver. 6. Be in peace with many, nevertheless have but one counsellor of a thousand.| i. e) Be kind and courteous to all, but intimate, only with a few; there.are several degrees in friend. ship. One ought to live upon good terms with all the world, and to endeavour -to have all per. sons in it, as far as may be our friends, at; least to be careful not to have them our enemies,.aq- cording to that of St Paul, “ If.it be possible, live peaceably with all men,’’ Rom. xii. 18, There are other friends and acquaintance who.,are still nearer to us, with whom we live. and gopverse in a more familiar and free manner ;, and yet even among those, there is scarce any, to whom one can safely open and unbosom himself. ,with- out reserve, as we cannot be sure of their pru- dence, honour, integrity, and sincere, attachment to us. It would be imprudence therefore. to.dis, close and lay open the secrets and recegses.af our hearts, before all sorts of friends,,as.all.are not fit to be entrusted with affairs of conse quence and importance. The moralists areage, on no subject more copious, than this of, frieadn ship, their sentiments agree with those of ;agy- author. ‘ Marriage, says the learned, wryteri above, which is the strictest of friendships, agin mits but of one, and inferior friendships admits, not of many more ; for besides that the,tide,of love, by reason of the contractedness of ous,-f3a: culues, cannot bear very high, when divided, among several channels, it is great odds.but,a-. mong many, we be deceived in some, and thea. we must be put upon the inconvenience of:t- tracting our choice, which in nothing. is so Ay, comely and inconvenient as in friendship.3d Ibid. p. 130. Lucian mentions, that amongthe Scythians a number of friends was.as scandar:; lous as a number of wives. In Toxar.,,,Ands though this may seem overstraining the pou, u yet has it a good moral, and intimates the sensi of our author. Isécrates too has a. pertinent 9by.: servation on the cccasiun, es py Exe pe aa 4 ° re [265145 Tom, Live friendly with, and behave GCaar. VI. civilly’ to'all ;but be intimate with’a few of worth and merit; by this means you will not have many ‘enemies, and only valuable friends.” ad Demon.” ** ; diVer 7 Tf thou wouldst get a friend prove him fem tand! be not: hasty to credit him.) i. e, Have had fot-some time, according to the Oriental ver- sibpsy opon trial:- The margin furnishes ano- therséns¢, Get him in the time of trouble, i aa- pévasy and so Junius renders, * Si comparatu- rus es -amicum, in afflictione ‘compara eum.” We do not now use the word credit, in the sense sit is here taken ; the meaning is, “ Be not hasty to trust-him.” Arab. “ Ne cito fidas eijf-orsto- trust thyself to, or with him. And so'the Complut. reads, wi rayv tumisedore oeav- fw ava. And so the Syriac, “* Ne temere te concredas illi ;” to which agrees Jerom’s Bible; and that-of Junius ; and so zicive is used, John Hl2ge'o "Insts ux exiswer taviiv avroic. - That pre- cept of Solon, giavs por rayy x18,-¥¢ ¥ dy xin, wit arAdnete, apud Lert. is not very unlike this. Wet. g. There is a friend, who being turned to'enmity and strife, will discover thy reproach.] Ep ARoG peralKuevos’ ete ExOcav, R waynr cradiopuy ow ahekanule. Mayn ovedicué is an unusual expregsion, ad ‘wants-an authority to confirm it, except it may revteive some countenance from 1 San. x#vi'39. aecording to the +. But I think paxr jommed: with ¢y4par, as our translators seem to un- derstand it, a more proper construction ; only it Miy still be asked by what éredicus is governed. Pfobably this is a’ mistake. Heschelius from sdtve authentic copy, as I presume, and not by ré conjecture, reads érediuir ov; and why might‘not some other ancient copy formerly hifve' treSicuvc, for it is used in the plural, to sig- WY shame’ or shameful things? as Isa. xlvii. 3: pevitorrecr of Grendio por OB, and thes might easily be alsorbed in that which follows. seems’ to-have read éredizuvs, rendering, Convitia denudlabit. The sense of the passage is, a quon- damfriend changed into an enemy, will re- veal all the faults which he knows, has heard, or-dbserved, during his acquaintance ; and the- more intimate and longer the friendship has n, the more is the breach and rupture to be drtaded: ‘the .more noise will it also make, and: the more fierce and implacable will be the ha- red > according to that wise observation of Pliny, sArctissima -necessitudo, si quando contingat dititni, in summam.vertitur simultatem ; & ex arctissimis foederibus, si:semel rumpantur, maxi- ma nascuntur dissidia,”’ L. xxxvii. c. 4. This, ECCLESIASTICUS. The Vulgate- 263 and the two following verses, are wanting in the Oriental versions. , “al Ver. 13. Separate thyself from thine enemies, and take heed of thy friends] i.e. Avoid sus- pected or declared enemies, and be aware of pre- tended and false friends, in whom you can place no certain confidence, such as are describ- ed, ver. 8, 9, 10. Companions only of the table, flatterers, and occasional attendants upon great fortune or power, who will discover a coldness and indifference, and perhaps openly or secretly do you some ill turn, when you are reduced to misfortunes. Count therefore none real friends but such as you have proved, and found faithful in advefsity. Phocylides describes the rpamfo- xdowc xdaaxec, almost in‘the same terms, whose maxims very often agree with those of our au- thor. King Antigonus’s wish or prayer, as re- corded by Plutarch, is agreeable to the advice of this wise writer; and proceeded from a like sentiment, ‘‘ The gods keep me from pretended’ friends, against open and avowed enemies I can guard and provide myself.” Clemens Alexand. has the like observation, Ex Oeey ard pa peor guaakaaSar,,, 7 pinoy. Strom. L. 6. ; Ver. 16. A faithful friend is the medicine of life, and they that fear the Lord shall find him.}. Friendship is‘ the very life and soul ofa man, - as necessary to his subsistence and well-being as medicines. are to preserve health. Nay other medicines are profitable only to the sick, and superfluous to those that are in health, but friendship is necessary to both. ‘The Latins have well intimated this, by terming friendship necessitudo, and friends. necessar7i. Yor all is feeble and tottering without this firm support, all flat and insipid, till friendship seasons and gives a relish to all enjcyments. For what plea- sure is there in life; except one has a friend tc whom he can unbosom himself; on whom he can rely ; who will divide his griefs, and double his joys? What-felicity is not ungrateful, if we have none to share with usin it? and what ca-- lamity is not lessened by the sympathy and condoling of a friend? See Ambr. de Offic. 1. 5." but a right and true friendship must-be founded upon virtue, and so all the moralists have deter- mined it. Ver. 17. Whoso feareth the Lord shail direct bis friendship aright, for as be is so spall his neighbour be.] To be blessed with a sincere and’ valuable friend, is a particular gift of God, a re- ward of a man’s piety and virtue. Such was Jonathan to David, which is the most perfec: 264 instance and pattern of friendship recorded in story ; the Scripture describes it in the fullest and most sensible manner, when it says that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of Da- vid, 1 Sam. xviii. 1. A good man will direct his friendship in so wise and useful a manner, as either to choose those that are like himself, or by proper means to make them such, “ Amici- tia similes invenit, aut facit.” Between good men friendship is as it were natural ; there is a correspondence of manners, a like disposition to do good, which directs them to fix upon each other; and a friendship so founded, without self-interested views, cannot but be lasting. Tully accordingly observes, that the most ex- cellent and perfect friendship is that which is formed and subsists in a society of virtuous and well-disposed persons; there is the most com- plete union and harmony arising from such a resemblance and similitude of manners; and the greatest things are to be expected from a fraternity of such, whose joint aim and endea- vour is to promote the common good. When hearts and affections are so uniformly and com- mendably joined, each rejoices, and takes as much pleasure in his friend as in himself, and so becomes as it were one with him, “ Unus fit ex pluribus,” and thereby completes Pythagoras’s description of friendship, Cic. Lib. i. De Offic. Ver. 18. Gather instruction from thy youth up, so shalt thou find wisdom tll thine old age.) The first impressions, those which are made in the time of youth are of great force and of long con- tinuance ; they not only help to prevent or curb the impetuosity of dangerous passions, but have an influence upon the whole life. This is ex- actly agreeable to the adage of Bias, épadiv avd YEOTNTOC cig hyZpas avarauGare copiay, i. €. furnish your- self with wisdom, as with a waticum, which may continue with you from youth till old age, Ap. Laert. L. i. Here a new subject begins, in which the author, the young candidate for wis- dom, not to be discouraged at the hardships which at first attend the undertaking, not to complain of the roughness and unpleasantness, or length of the way, nor despair of at length attaining the desired end, notwithstanding the many labours and difficulties that necessarily will occur, but to imitate rather the faithful and diligent husbandman, who sows in hope, and spares no pains, in expectation of a future plen- tiful harvest. St James uses. the same compa- rison, and well expresses the sense of the next. verse, “ Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and ECCLESIASTICUS. | .Char. VI, latter rain-; be ye also patient and establish:our hearts,” ch. v. 7. And so St Paul, “ The hues bandman that laboureth first, opaTer nomiatle; Must (afterwards) partake of the fruits,” 2 Timo ik 6. For so I would render the words, and not, as 6ur version has it, “ Tle husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits” which is pr. posterous and absurd. This is agreeable tothe marginal reading, and Beza and Junius beth confirm it, who have, “ Agricolam ‘oportet, prius laborando fructus percipere.” low Ver. 21. She will lie upon him as a mighty stone of trial.) This by the prophet Zechariah,