The almost 8. Lam. i. 13.

Psa. xlii. 10.

ken of by many writers. Jer. numberless Jewish ceremonies are xxiii. 9. Hab. iii. 16. To be bone of said to have been a yoke of bondage, one's bone, and flesh of his flesh, or a which came to the Old Testament member of his flesh and bones, is to worshippers in the form of a cove-have the same nature, and the nearest nant of works, saying, Do this and relation and affection, 2 Sam. v. 1. thou shalt live. This is far from the Gen. ii. 23. Eph. v. 30. To pluck the case; how inconsistent is it with all flesh off one's bones, or to break and revelation, to consider the law which chop them, is most cruelly to oppress was given to Israel, and was thought and murder, Mic. iii. 2, 3. Iniquito be a most valuable bequest of ties are in and on men's bones, when heaven, in this light as working their body is polluted by them, and wrath and death? Paul mentions the lies under the guilt or fearful punishgiving of the law as one of the greatest ment of them, Job xx. 11. Ezek. advantages which the Jews enjoyed; xxxii. 27. Moses says, "What nation is there BONNET, a covering for the head, so great!" How?-in being blessed worn by the Jewish priests, Exod. with such statutes and ordinances of xxviii. 40, &c. The Hebrew word righteousness. That law answered Misnepheth, which is translated mitre, to them as the preaching of the gos-and mygbaoth, which is translated pel; for unto us was the gospel bonnet, the rabbins say, signify the preached, as well as unto them, same thing. According to them, the Heb. iv. 2. And Paul and the other bonnet used in general by the priests, apostles went abroad, preaching none was made of a piece of cloth sixteen other things than what Moses in the yards long, which covered their heads law and the prophets had said. The like an helmet or a turban; and they law preached Christ to come, and allow no other difference to be bedeliverance from spiritual bondage tween the high priest's bonnet, and through him: but, when the key of that of the other priests, than this, knowledge was taken from that law, that one is flatter, and made in the viz. Christ, and him crucified, and form of a turban, whereas the other, the ceremonies of that law, with the worn by ordinary priests, rose someweighty additions of the traditions of thing more in a point. Josephus the elders, were laid upon men, as says, that the bonnet worn by private works, by the doing of which they priests was composed of many rounds were to please God, that law became of linen cloth, turned in, and sown grievous, and heavy to be borne. together, so as to appear like a thick Corresponding to this, when the Ju- crown made of linen, wove together. daizing teachers went to the Gentile The whole was entirely covered with churches, preaching the necessity a piece of linen cloth, which came of circumcision and keeping of the as low as the forehead, so that the law, together with the death of Christ, deformity of the seams might be conas necessary to justification, they en- cealed. As to the high priest's bondeavoured to bring again into bond-net, he says, it was like that which age those whom Christ had made has been already described, only that free, Gal. v. 1.

another was put over it of a violet BONES, (1.) The hard parts of colour, which covered the hinder animal bodies, which support their part of the head, and the two temform, Job x. 11. (2.) A dead body, ples, and was encompassed with a 1 Kings xiii. 31. 2 Kings xiii. 21. triple crown of gold, wherein were (3.) The whole man, Psa. xxxv. 10. small buttons of hen-bane flowers. A troubled soul is likened to broken, This circle of flowers was interrupted burnt, pierced, shaking, or rotten in the fore-part of the tiara, by the bones: its distress is very painful, plate of gold wherein was engraved lasting, and difficult of cure, Psa. li. HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

BOOK; in Latin Liber, in He- first bed of leaves is covered with brew Sepher, in Greek Biblos. Seve a larger of fine paste, or with the ral sorts of materials were used for- muddy water of the Nile warmed, merly in making books, or preserv- then a second bed of paper leaves is ing the knowledge of certain facts. laid upon the paste, and so the whole Plates of lead and copper, the barks left to dry in the sun. Such was the of trees, bricks, stone, and wood, Egyptian Papyrus, from whence our were the first matter employed to paper takes its name, though it be engrave such things and monuments so very different from it. upon as men were willing to have The kings of Egypt having collecttransmitted to posterity. Josephus ed a great library at Alexandria, the speaks of two columns, one of stone, kings of Pergamos were inclined to the other of brick, upon which the imitate their example. But the Epypchildren of Seth wrote their inven- tian monarchs, either out of envy, or tions and astronomical discoveries. for some other reason, prohibited the Porphyry makes mention of some exportation of paper out of their dopillars preserved in Crete, on which minions, which obliged the kings of the ceremonies were recorded that Pergamos to invent parchment, callwere practised by the Corybantes in ed Pergamenum, from the city of Pertheir sacrifices. Hesiod's works were gamus; or Membrana, because made at first written upon tables of lead, of the skins wherewith beasts and which were first in the temple of the the several members of them are comuses in Boætia. God's laws were vered. With these leaves of vellum written upon stone, and Solon's upon or parchment, two sorts of books wooden planks. Tables of wood, were made: the one were rolls combox, and ivory, were likewise very posed of many leaves of vellum sewcommon among the ancients. When ed or glewed together at the end. they were of wood only, they were These books were written upon one oftentimes covered with wax, that side only, and they were to be unany one might write on them with rolled and spread before they could more ease, or blot out what he had be read. The others were like ours, written. made up of many leaves fastened to The leaves of the palm-tree were one another, were written upon both used afterwards in the room of wood-sides, and were opened like our en planks, and the finest and thinest books. The Jews still make use of bark of such trees as the lime, the rolls in their synagogues; and the ash, the maple, and the elm. From Bibles which they read there with hence comes the word Liber, which apparent solemnity, are made after signifies the inner bark of trees. And the manner of the old volumes. as these barks were rolled up, in or- The ancients wrote likewise upon der to be removed with more ease, linen. Pliny says, the Parthians, even these rolls were called Volumen, a in his time, wrote upon their clothes; volume; a name given likewise to and Livy speaks of certain books such rolls of paper or parchment as made of linen, lintei libri, upon which we are going to speak of.

the names of magistrates, and the history of the Roman commonwealth, were written, and preserved in the temple of the goddess Moneta.

Paper is from Papyrus, which is a kind of reed that grows upon the banks of the Nile. The trunk of this plant is composed of several leaves lying one As to the paper at present used by upon another, which are taken off us, which is made of rags beaten with a needle. They are afterwards small, and reduced to a kind of pulp, spread upon a table, and so much of the original of it is what we are not them is moistened as is equal to the acquainted with. We see no book size which it is intended that the written on this subject which is above leaves of the Papyrus shall be of; this five hundred years old; and perhaps

the most ancient author wherein there is any mention of it, is Peter the venerable, who speaks of paper made of old rags.

6

As it is written in the book of the wars of the Lord, the Hebrews came from Zared, and encamped at Suphah, and about the stream of the St. Bernard de Montfaucon has brook of Arnon, which reaches as treated likewise of cotton paper, char- far as the dwelling of Ar, and leanta bombycina, which he shows to have eth upon the frontiers of Moab.'been in use above six hundred years Zared we know ; see Numb. xxi. 12, ago. The original of this paper is 13. from thence they came to Sunot very well known; but the mat-phah, which too is mentioned in ter of it is certainly cotton, and the Deut. i. 1. and perhaps in Num. xxii. use of it has been very common since 36. From whence they came to the the tenth age. brook of Arnon, which flows down

Book of the Wars of the Lord. This to Ar, the capital city of the Moabbook is cited by Moses, where he is ites. All this is cited very seasonaspeaking of his passing the river Ar-bly in this place, to confirm what is non with the Israelites, in their way said in the preceding verses; where-: to the country of the Amorites. In-as, if we explain this quotation after quiry has been made what this book any other manner, we cannot find to of the wars of the Lord was: some what purpose Moses here produced think it was a work of greater anti-it. Zared may easily be made from quity than Moses, and contained a Vaheb in the Hebrew. recital of those wars which the Is- Others are of opinion, that the book raelites had begun or carried on in of the wars of the Lord, is the very Egypt, or out of Egypt, before their book of Numbers, wherein this paswithdrawing out of this country un-sage is cited, or that of Joshua or der Moses. Indeed, it is not natural Judges; they do not translate as we for an author to quote a book which do, It is written in the book of the is not more ancient than his own wars of the Lord,' but thus only, work which he is writing; particu- It is said in the recital of the wars larly when any extraodinary or mi- of the Lord,' &c. Others assert, raculous fact is to be supported and that this narration of the wars of confirmed. The Hebrew of this pas- the Lord is contained in the 135th sage, in the printed Bibles, is per- and the 136th Psalms. Tostatus will plexed: As it is written in the have it, that the book of the wars of book of the wars of the Lord, at the Lord, and the book of Jasher, reVaheb, in Suphah, and in the ferred to in Joshua, are the same. < brooks of Arnon, and at the stream Cornelius a Lapide conjectures, that ' of the brooks that goeth down to this place and citation are here added 'the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon to the text of Moses, and that the 'the border of Moab.' We do not book of the wars of the Lord containknow who or what this Vaheb is. M. ed the wars which the Israelites carMoivin, the elder, is of opinion that ried on under the conduct of Moses, some prince is meant by it, who had Joshua, the Judges, &c. that, therethe government of the country wa-fore, it was later than Moses. The tered by the river Arnon, and was reader may consuit commentators on defeated by the Israelites, before Numb. xxi. 14. they came out of Egypt. Others The same difficulties almost are prothink that Vaheb was a certain king posed concerning the book of Jasher, of Moab, who was overcome by Si- or the Upright, mentioned Josh. x. hon king of the Amorites. Grotius, 13. and 2 Sam. i. 18. as concerning instead of Vaheb, reads Moab, and the book of the wars of the Lord, translates it, Sihon beat Moab at Su- whereof we have just been speakphah. I should rather read Zared, ing; and with which some will have instead of Vaheb, after this manner, this book of Jasher to be the same.

Joshua, after having related the mi- now in being any more than the two racle of stopping the course both of preceding books, but this book is the sun and moon, adds, ' Is not this quoted in almost every page of the ⚫ written in the book of Jasher? So book of Kings and Chronicles, which 'the sun stood still in the midst of are composed chiefly from such old 'heaven, and hasted not to go down, memoirs as the author had in his ' about a whole day.' Grotius is of possession, and which in all probaopinion, that this book was a tri- bility were still subsisting even after umphant song made with a design the return of the Jews from the Bato celebrate the success of Joshua, bylonish captivity, as appears by and the prodigy attending it; and Calmet's preface to the two books of M. Du Pin declares for this opinion, Chronicles, and those of Kings. The as the most probable, because the authors of the book of the Days or words cited by Joshua from this book Chronicles were generally prophets are poetical expressions, not very and inspired persons. proper for historical memoirs; and secondly, because a book under the same title is referred to in the passage of Samuel above-mentioned, where David's song is repeated upon the death of Saul and Jonathan. For of speaking frequent in scripture, these reasons he is persuaded that the work here in question did not contain annals.

The book of the Lord, the book of the Living, the book of Life, Ex. xxxii. 32. Psal. Ixix. 28. and cxxxix. 16. Phil. iv. 3. Rev. iii. 6, &c. F. Calmet thinks it probable are several ways

which are taken from the custom observed generally in the courts of princes, of keeping a list of all those As this book of Jasher is mentioned who are in their service, of the proin the book of Samuel, if it be the vinces which they govern, of the of same that is mentioned in that of Jo-ficers of their armies, of the number shua, it must have been collected or compiled after the time of David, and consequently long after that of Joshua; this perhaps may have led some people to doubt whether the citation from the book of Jasher was inserted by Joshua himself, or by those who digested his memoirs, and put his book into the form wherein we now find it. Hence perhaps Le Clerc takes this book to have been a collection of hymns, or songs, composed upon the subject of the martial exploits of the Hebrews, made and collated at different times, wherein the renowned victory of Joshua was celebrated among others, either by Joshua's contemporaries, or other poets who lived after him. Thus, as our author has shown, neither the Psalms of David, nor the Proverbs of Solomon, were collected at one and the same time.

The book of Chronicles, or days, i. e. the words of days, contained the annals and journals which were written in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. These memoirs or journals are not

of their troops, and sometimes even the names of their soldiers. Thus Moses begging of God rather to blot him out of his book than reject his people Israel, is the same almost as St. Paul's expression, when he declared, Rom. ix. 3. that he would consent in some measure to be accursed, separated from the company of the saints, and struck out of the book of the Lord, if thereby he might be able to procure the salvation of his people. And when it is said, that any one is written in the book of life, nothing more is meant by it, than that such an one in a particular manner belongs to God; that he is in the number of his friends and servants; and, on the contrary, when any one is said to be blotted out of the book of life, it is signified, that he is rased out of the list of God's friends and servants; in like manner as those who die, or are guilty of any sort of treachery, for which they are dismissed the court, are struck off the roll of officers belonging to the prince. The same is likewise the opinion of

Le Clerc upon this subject. Daniel v. 1, 2, 3. are Isaiah's and John's pro vii. 10. speaking of God's judgments phecies, which were written in a says, The judges were seated, and book or roll after the manner of the the books opened; or the judgment ancients, and were sealed; that is to was set, and the books were opened. say, were unknown, enigmatical, This is an allusion to what is practis-obscure, and mysterious; had respect ed when a prince calls his servants to things remote, and events that to account. The accounts are pro-were to come, so that no knowledge duced, and what every one owes is could be had of them till after that inquired into. It is possible he might which was foretold should happen, allude also to a custom of the Per- and the seals were taken off. sians, among whom it was a constant The Book, or flying roll, spoken of practice every day to write down in Zechariah, v. 1, 2. twenty cubits what happened, the services which long and ten wide, was one of those were done the king, and the rewards old rolls composed of many skins of given to those who had performed parchment, glewed or sewed togethem, as we see in the history of ther at the end. This volume, which Ahasuerus and Mordecai, Esth. iv. appeared to Zechary in a vision, it 12, 34. When therefore the king is observed, in all probability never sits in judgment, the books are had any other existence. Though opened: he obliges all his servants some of these volumes were very long, to reckon with him; he punishes yet none were ever made of such a size. those who have been deficient in This book contained the curses, me: their duty, or erases their names out naces, and calamities, which should of his register; he compels those to fall upon the Jews. The extreme pay who are indebted to him, and length and breadth of it, show the rewards those who have done him excessive enormity of their sins, and any important service. There will the terrible nature of the evils with be in proportion the same way of which they were threatened. proceeding at the day of God's final judgment.

The Book of the Generation of Adam, Gen. v. 1. signifies the history of his Book is sometimes put for letters, life, in like manner as the book of memoirs, an edict, or contract; in the generation of Noah, or of Jesus short, the Hebrew word which should Christ, signifies, in the style of the be translated book, is put oftentimes Hebrews, their history, what has for all these. Thus the letter, as the happened to them, and what they English translators render it, which have done. In short, book among Rabshakeh delivered from Sennache- the Hebrews signified all sorts of rib to Hezekiah, is called Sepher, a writings, letters, ordinances, rolls, book; and the LXX. render it registers, memoirs, &c. Solomon, BIGAIO, Isa. xxxvii. 14. The con- Eccl. xii. 12. said, so long ago as his tract which Jeremiah, xxxii. 12. time, that there was no end of comconfirmed for the purchase of a field, is called by the same name. Ahasuerus's ediet in favour of the Jews, is likewise in Hebrew called a book, Esth. ix. 20, 30, &c. though our translators have called it Letter: and the writing which a man gave to his wife when he divorced her, was in Hebrew called a book of divorce, Deut. xxiv.

posing books, intimating, that to write upon all sorts of subjects was an endless work: but it was a grand point, and the sum of all, to fear God and observe his precepts.

We read in Psal. xl. 7, 8. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my God.' St. Paul has left us no room to ques The book that is sealed, mentioned tion the sense of this passage, since by Isaiah xxix. and the book with se- he applies it to the incarnation of ven seals spoken of in the Revelation, Jesus Christ.