PART II. Semi-chorus. 7. O ye gates! lift up your heads, And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, A single Voice. 8. Who is he, this King of Glory? Another Voice. Jehovah, strong and mighty Jehovah, mighty in battle. Semi-chorus. 9. O ye gates! lift up your heads, And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, And let the King of Glory enter! A single Voice. 10. Who is he, this King of Glory? Grand Chorus. Jehovah of Hosts-he is the King of Glory. THE DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON. ISAIAH. xiv. The kings thy sword had slain, the mighty dead, I will ascend above the starry pole, MONTGOMERY. Biblical Ellustrations. PSALM 1.4. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. To understand the propriety and force of this expression, it should be remembered, that it was written in Palestine, where the threshing floors were not under cover, as our barns are, but were formed in the open air. It is requisite, likewise, to know, that the mode of threshing in use among the Orientals, reduced the straw into very small pieces, while it beat out the corn; and that the mode of separating the one from the other was by throwing the whole up with shovels against the wind. To this there is an allusion in Homer, (II. xxiii. lin. 588.) Ως δ' ότ' απο πλατεος πτυόφιν μεγάλην κατ' αλω Θρώσκουσιν κυάμοι μελανόχρους, η ερεβινθοι. As on the spacious floor the dusky beans Or vetches leap, from the broad shovel thrown- POPE. " "After the grain is trodden out," says Dr. Shaw, "they" winnow it by throwing it up against the wind with a shovel.” And Thevenot observes, "When the straw is cut small enough, they put fresh corn in the place, and afterwards separate the corn from the cut straw, by throwing it in the air with a wooden shovel, for the wind drives the straw a little farther, so that only the fine corn falls to the ground." A similar mode obtains in Persia: "Travelling onward," says Sir R. K. Porter, "we found bands of peasants engaged in the different rural occupations of the season; some separating the grain from the straw, others cutting down the corn that had been left standing, but performing the business with a sickle so far unlike ours, as to be scarcely bended in the blade. The threshing operation is performed by a machine, composed of a large square frame of wood, which contains two wooden cylinders, placed parallel to each other, and which have a turning motion. They are stuck full of spikes, with sharp square points; but not all of a length. These rollers have the appearance of the barrels in an organ, and their projections, when brought in contact with the corn, break the stalk, and disengage the ear. They are put in motion by a couple of cows, or oxen, yoked to the frame, and guided by the man sitting on the plank that covers the frame which contains the cylinders. He drives this agricultural equipage in a circle, round any great accumulation of just-gathered harvest, keeping at a certain distance from the verge of the heap; close to which a second peasant stands, holding a long-handled twenty-pronged fork, shaped like the spread sticks of a fan and with which he throws the unbound sheaves forward, to meet the rotatory motion of the machine. He has a shovel also ready with which he removes to a considerable distance the corn that has already passed the wheel. Other men are on the spot with the like implement, which they fill with the broken material, and throw it aloft in the air, when the wind blows away the chaff, and the grain falls to the ground. The latter process is repeated till the corn is completely winnowed from its refuse, when it is gathered up, carried home, and deposited for use in large earthen jars. The straw also is preserved with care, being the sole winter food of the horses and mules.”* 1 COR. v. 1-5. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For 1 verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed; In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. The writings of Philo and Josephus, with those of the early Christian fathers, must ever be valuable and interesting, as they * Travels in Geogia, Persia, &c. pp. 89, 90. describe the opinions and peculiar customs of the early followers of Jesus, and thus serve to illustrate with great felicity and precision, those passages in the New Testament whicha re either doubtful or obscure. From the passage at the head of this article it appears, that a person was received as a member into the church at Corinth, who had married his step-mother, or, in Hebrew and Arabic phraseology, the wife of his father. This seems to have been a man of some consequence, as his admission into the Christian church caused them to be puffed up, or, in other words, filled them with joy and exultation. The rank or fortune of the man who thus disgraced the new religion, had, however, no impression on the elevated mind of the apostle Paul, who insists on his expulsion, but not without giving him the hope of re-admission, after sufficiently suffering from the anguish of repentance and mortification. The language in which he conveys this sentiment is remarkably illustrated by Josephus in a passage which we shall' presently adduce. While the Christians at Corinth rejoiced in the union of this pretended convert, the apostle represents it as a funeral, which required them to mourn, rather than to rejoice. This is the figure which he uses; and we must have recourse to the form of burial among the Jews, in order to see -its force and propriety. Before the corpse was lifted up to be removed, persons, hired to mourn, began their lamentation. This is the point of light in which Paul places this morally dead offender. "And ye have not rather mourned, that he who hath done this deed might be carried out from among you." It was usual with the Jews to collect in large bodies at a funeral and to take a part in carrying a dead body to the grave they deemed a very laudable action. Over the deceased, when laid in the dust, was pronounced an oration, purporting, that though his body should be destroyed by corruption, God would again restore his life. To this practice the apostle continues the allusion." In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, after you have assembled with my spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ attending you, deliver such an one to the adversary, for the mortification of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus." Which is to this effect: instead of rejoicing in this man, however distinguished in a worldly view, as one raised to a new life by his conversion, mourn over him as one dead on account of his heinous guilt, and consign him to the world, the great adversary of our faith, as you would a corpse which, if left alone, would spread moral infection and death among you. For this purpose convene together, as the custom is in a funeral; and in separating him from the church, my heart and soul will be with you; and his expulsion will be farther sanctioned by the authority of Jesus Christ. In his name deliver him up to the adversary, as a dead body to the dust; and if this punishment serve to reform him, if his evil habits moulder away, as the flesh in the grave, by shame and remorse, suffer him not to pine unto death, but receive him again into your communion. Having his character thus renovated and purified by repentance, as the soul is purified by its separation from flesh and blood, he will finally be saved in the day when the Lord Jesus shall come to raise the dead, and introduce his virtuous followers into glory." Now the propriety of the apostle's language depends on the circumstance, that the punishment of excommunication was so severely felt, that many, unless they were again re-admitted, pined to death by grief and famine. This fact is attested by Josephus in the passage to which we have already alluded. "Those who are detected of heinous crimes," says he," are expelled from the society; and the person expelled, often perishes in a miserable manner, being prevented by the most solemn engagement from partaking of the food used by others. He therefore feeds on herbs or wastes to death by famine. For this reason they have compassion on many, and receive them again in their last extremities, thinking that suffering, so nearly fatal, a sufficient punishment for their guilt."* * Jones's Ecclesiastical Researches, pp. 224-228. |