"Shew-bread." Some read, bread of the presence; others, face-bread.-A face, it appears, was stamped on the loaf.

Matthew, xii. 20. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

In appealing from the Grand Vizier to the Grand Seignior, on special occasions allowed, the appellants put pots of fire on their heads, and rush into the presence. Some speak of the aggrieved as standing at the gate with a match or wick lighted and smoking; others of numbers who attend the Emperor with burning straw on their heads.-Possibly Prov. xxv. 22, and Romans, xii. 21, may refer to such

usages.

Matthew, xii. 36. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

"Idle word." Dr. Campbell reads, Pernicious word, referring, undoubtedly, to the impious assertion of the Pharisees, that Christ cast out demons by the power of Satan.

Matthew, xiv. 8. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger.

Herodius's haste to secure the baptist's head, is accounted for, by considering, that had Herod been allowed to grow sober, he would have satisfied the girl with some reward. A Persian Monarch, when drunk, gave a dancing-girl a palace; but the next morning, being expostulated with, he ordered her a sum about £200.-The Grand Seignior had the heads of some officers exposed in large silver dishes, with labels denoting their crimes.

Matthew, xviii. 18. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.

This passage, it should seem, refers not to sins against God, any further than they injure our neighbour. Hence Peter, no ways perplexed as with a new doctrine, merely inquires about the frequency of exercising forgiveness. The Jews, surprised at the authority exercised by Christ, inquired, Who can forgive sin but God only? Yet forgiveness of our sins against God, is incompatible with an unforgiving spirit towards our brethren. Mark, xi. 25, 26. So in the Lord's Prayer, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. Compare Leviticus, xvi. 17, with Matthew, v. 23.-With respect to the declarative power of remission with which the apostles were endowed, Matthew, xvi. 19, and John, xx. 23, if it extended to any thing beyond the passages referred to, it may be supposed to have been connected with the power of discerning spirits, conferred among other gifts for the establishment of the Christian dispensation, which Peter was to open to the Gentiles. Matthew, xvi.18.

Matthew, xviii. 25. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.-See Deuteronomy, vi. 21; Genesis, xliii. 18; 2 Kings, iv. 1.

It is a principle of the Gentoo laws, that one who is victualled by another in famine, becomes his slave, as well as an unredeemed bondman. It seems likely that the ostensible reason for detaining the Hebrews in slavery, was their being supported by Egyptian benevolence; the new Pharaoh, (probably a foreign conqueror, who brought his own officers of army and state with him,) not caring about the merits and services of Joseph. The case of such with their children, may be seen in the passages referred to.

Matthew, xix. 24. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

A proverbial form of speech suggested by the low entrances to the enclosures round an Eastern house, so made as to exclude thieves on the back of camels.

Matthew, xxi. 12, 13. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

"There was amongst the Jews a certain right, called jus zelotarium, or the right of zealots,whereby private persons, acted by a zeal for God, might do immediate execution upon some malefactors, without expecting the sentence of any court of judicature. And some conceive, that our Saviour, by this right of zealots, did whip the buyers and sellers out of the temple, and overturn the tables of the money-changers, because he was never questioned by the Jews for it. But this was then a legal and regular thing, permitted by the public laws of that nation in some certain cases, yet so as that those zealots were afterwards accountable to the Sanhedrim for what they did."-Cudworth. "Money-changers." Moormen, whose business it is to give cash for notes, may be seen sitting in public places in Ceylon, with heaps of coin before them. On observing a person with a note, or in want of their services, they earnestly solicit his attention.

Matthew, xxi. 44. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

"In this passage, Christ is supposed to allude to the different methods of stoning to death then prac

if

tised. When a criminal was stoned to death, they threw him headlong from an eminence, in such a manner as to dash him against some great stone; this did not dispatch him, they him, thereby to crush him in Newcomb.

threw another upon pieces." Lamy in

Matthew, xxii. 20. 21. And he said unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Cesar's.

It should seem the Romans received tribute, in coin of their own stamping; for the Jews abhorred images so much, as not to allow a carver or painter to live in Jerusalem after the captivity. Among the most ancient British coins extant, are those marked TAXIA, considered by antiquarians to have been minted for paying tribute to the Romans, who refused coins not their own.

Matthew, xxii. 23. The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection.

........

No future life."-Campbell. This reading, for the propriety of which, see the Doctor's note; renders the different parts of the paragraph consistent, whereas the doctrine of the resurrection was but a part of what the Sadducees denied.-See also, Acts, xxiii. 8,

Matthew, xxii. 24. Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

The Hindoo sages, says Mr. Ward, have given a law precisely similar to this; and the Cingalese observe the same usage,

Matthew, xxiii. 8-10. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters; for one is your Master, even Christ.

Budhuist priests, according to their degrees, are styled Sanja-raja, the revered king, or pontiff ; Nayaka, the high priest; Pandittaya, the adept; Tirrunnansy, the expounder; and Gooroonansy, the preceptor.

Matthew, xxiii. 24. Ye blind guides, which strain at (out) a gnat, and swallow a camel.-Proverbs, vi. 13. He winketh with his eye, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers. There are Arabic proverbs extant, answering to these and other such passages.

Matthew, xxiii. 27. Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres.

I have been often reminded of this when observing the tombs in Ceylon undergoing a white-washing, though the ones here alluded to, were, I suppose, introduced by the Dutch,-the natives following the model where they could go to the expense. They consist of a small room built to lodge the coffins in, having on the top an ornament in the shape of one. There are magnificent tombs in Kandy, wherein are deposited the remains of the royal family. The Budhuist mausoleums, one of which is usually constructed near a temple, and in which a relic of Budhu is said to be deposited, look handsome while they continue white-washed and in repair, but at length they have an appearance of gloomy solemnity.

Matthew, xxiv. 26. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

"Behold, he is in the desert." "In such an hermitage, or blind chapel, built in a bye-place, to the