For the cold chill blast of the ruthless past
Hath swept Life's flowers away,

And thorns are grown, by the traveller sown,
On the path where flowerets lay.

But still ever bright, with a steadfast light,
Defying Time's changing hand,

Hope's lustrous star shineth forth from afar,
O'er the way to the better land.

ZETA.

CHARLIE'S GRAVE.

"Man goeth to his long home: and the mourners go about the streets.”— Eccles. xii. 5.

Is this the grave? his grave! My God,

Is Charlie lying here!

Down in this darksome earth, nor knows

That I am standing here.

Oh! shall I never chase him more

Adown yon sunny glen;

And never hear his merry laugh
Ring in these woods again?

Or sit beside him in the shade

Of Eric's ivied towers;

And plan the life that we should lead
As if the world were ours?

Alas! no more: the bloom has passed
Away before the blight;

The dawning of the rosy morn
Has darkened into night.

'Twas in the dreary winter time,
The snow was on the ground,
The footsteps in the street below
Passed with a muffled sound.

We watched the blanching of his cheek,
We watched his glazing eye,

The friends that saw him shook their heads
And told me he must die.

Yet still I hoped, and Charlie hoped
When spring returned once more,
That he would soon regain the health
He had in days of yore.

He used to ask if the air was warm
And if the sky was clear,

And if the singing birds were come
And if the flowers were here.

For oh! to see the leafy woods,
The mountain, and the glen,
And breathe the balmy summer air
Would make him well again.

The spring has come; the glittering leaves
Are rustling on the bough;

The flowers are out; the birds are come,
But where is Charlie now?

Ah! here he lies; the trees around
Their shadowy branches wave,

And the flowers he longed so much to see
Are growing o'er his grave!

O Charlie! brother! art thou gone?
And art thou gone for aye?

Is all that loved me-all I loved
Mixed with this senseless clay?
Sweet little flowers! ye answer me
Up looking to the skies

And telling that as ye from death
To brighter being rise,

So Charlie now is blossoming

In a brighter world above,

Where we shall meet and love again,
Ev'n as we used to love.

DAVID MACRAE.

ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Induction.-The Rev. Thomas Andrews, late of St Luke's, Edinburgh, was inducted to the pastoral charge of the Parish of Queensferry.

Presbytery of Aberdeen.-This reverend Court met, Mr Wilson, moderator, pro tem. Messrs George Law and George Sturrock received the Presbytery's license as preachers. An overture, sent down by the Assembly, anent the induction of ministers, was approved. The Presbytery also adopted an overture praying the General Assembly to issue a pastoral address, recommending greater attention being paid to family worship. Dr Paul intimated his intention to resign at next meeting the office of Presbytery Clerk. A committee was appointed in reference to this matter, to report to next meeting. Mr Corbet having resigned his commission as a member of Assembly, Dr Macpherson was appointed in his place.

Selkirk The New Parish Church.-The foundation-stone of a new parish church was formally laid here. The heritors of the parish, the members of the Presbytery of Selkirk, and the magistrates and town council of the burgh, met in the Town-hall, and proceeded to the site of the new building, where a considerable number of the members of the congregation and other inhabitants had assembled. The Rev. Mr Farquharson, minister of the parish, opened the proceedings with prayer, after which a bottle containing a roll of parchment, on which were inscribed the names of the kirk-session, the Magistrates and members of the TownCouncil, and the heritors of the parish, together with the current coins of the realm, the seal of the burgh, and copies of the metropolitan and local newspapers,

were deposited in a cavity prepared in the stone for its reception. Provost Roberts then performed the ceremony of laying the stone, and addressed the assembly in appropriate terms. The benediction having been pronounced by the Rev. Mr Farquharson, the assembly dispersed.

Presbytery of Auchterarder.-A meeting of this reverend Court was held in the Church vestry, for the purpose of proceeding further with the call to the Rev. John Wilson, Forgandenny, to the church and parish of Dunning. There was a large attendance of members present. The Rev. James Walker, Muthill, moderator. The commissioners appointed at the last meeting of Presbytery to prosecute the call before the Presbytery of Perth, appeared at the meeting, and stated that the Presbytery of Perth had agreed to the translation of the Rev. Mr Wilson. The Presbytery then agreed that the induction take place at Dunning on the 15th of June, and that the Rev. John R. Campbell of Ardoch preach and preside on the occasion. The Rev. Mr Young, Auchterarder, was appointed to preach and serve the edict on Sabbath the 2d proximo. The meeting after some other business of little importance adjourned.

Dumfries.-This Presbytery met, the Rev. Andrew Gray, of the New Church, Dumfries, moderator for the past half-year, in the chair. The Rev. A. H. Charteris of Newabbey, was elected moderator for the current half-year. The clerk (Mr Hope of Dunscore) gave in a report on the schools within the Presbytery, which stated that in the 33 parochial schools within the bounds of the Presbytery, the number of scholars enrolled during the past year was 2936; in the 17 non-parochial schools, 1503; other schools not examined by the Presbytery, 11; estimated attendance, 220. The report was approved of, and ordered to be transmitted to the clerk of the Education Committee for the Church of Scotland. A letter from the Rev. W. Wilson of Maxwelltown Chapel, was read, stating that the supplementary fund of £30, promised to be contributed in addition to the grant of £70 from the Home Mission Committee, had not been subscribed for the past year, and that in the event of the Presbytery's Committee not making up that supplement, which they had promised to do, he would be under the necessity of resigning the charge. The Rev. A. Gray, convener of the Presbytery's Committee, gave in a report on the subject, which indicated that the object held in view in reference to the Maxwelltown Chapel had not been attended with the success that was anticipated. The result of a very lengthened discussion was that Mr Wilson (who was present) gave in his resignation of the incumbency, and requested the usual Presbyterial certificates. On the motion of the Rev. Mr Hogg of Kirkmahoe, the resignation was accepted, and it was agreed to grant the certificates craved.

The Newhills Case.-It is understood that the Committee appointed by the General Assembly to "ascertain whether Mr Adam is now insane, and incapable of pleading to the libel," after hearing evidence as to the present state of Mr Adam, and conferring with the curator bonis and the representatives of the Presbytery, have suggested or sanctioned an arrangement which, in the event of its adoption by the Assembly, will result in further proceedings in the case being stayed, and the parish being provided with another minister.

Died, at Aberlady, the Rev. John Smith, minister of the parish.

Died, at Stonehouse Manse, on the 21st inst., the Rev. Hugh Dewar, minister of the parish.

MACPHAIL'S

EDINBURGH ECCLESIASTICAL JOURNAL.

No. CLXXXVI.

JULY 1861.

POPULAR COMMENTARIES ON THE BIBLE.*

No. I.

No book in the world has called forth such an amount of literature as the Bible. It has been translated into nearly two hundred dialects. It has afforded mental study to millions of the human race now living, and to millions more now in glory. It is computed that upwards of fifty thousand works on separate portions of the Bible have been published in the English language alone. Of these, about twenty-five hundred relate to the Pentateuch, five thousand to the Psalms, two thousand to Isaiah, six thousand to the four Gospels, three thousand to Romans, and two thousand to Revelation, not to speak of commentaries on the whole Bible! Day by day the number is increasing, and doubtless will increase.

In spite of this extraordinary amount of Biblical Literature it is doubtful whether the Church has increased much in her knowledge of the Bible beyond what was possessed a century ago. And the chief reason we conceive to be, that few of these commentators really thought, to any extent, for themselves; they compared, enlarged, or condensed the writings of the authors who lived before them, they quoted this father and that father, supported their theories by one council and another council, so that, in fact, the reader gets something like a history of the interpretation of the text, what the Calvinists thought, and what the Arminians thought, and what the Papists thought, and what the Unitarians thought of it, rather than the interpretation itself. Poli Synopsis Criticorum was the great source from which they drew their inspiration, and with a few odds and ends, gathered from other quarters, a great many practical remarks which were often very good, but far from being textual, their work was complete. It is quite * The Miniature Quarto Bible. Bagster & Sons, London. 1846. VOL. XXXI.

X

surprising what difficulty one has to give a definite answer to such a question as, "What commentary would you recommend?" One friend suggests Gill, a second Henry, a third Scott, a fourth Clarke, a fifth Brown, a sixth Poole, a seventh Kitto. But some of these, if not all, are large, and prosy, and superficial. They all run in the same beaten path. Elaborate explanations and reflections when none are necessary, and almost none at all when they are really indispensable to the enquiring reader.

Yet the Bible is not a difficult book-the subjects it treats of are, in some respects, "hard to be understood," but the language in which they are expressed is generally, we might say uniformly, simple. The danger lies in attaching to the simple words of Scripture meanings which they might, could, would, or should have, and of straining the meaning to the utmost extent of which the words are capable. Starting with preconceived notions, formed it may be insensibly, the words are tortured to support them. For example, most translators or expositors of the Bible, starting with the notion that the narrative in Gen. i. describes the original creation of the matter of the universe, use and understand the words beginning, created, made, &c., in the highest sense of which the words are capable; but if one were to start with the conviction that it is not so, that the narrative describes rather a reconstruction or reorganization of a previously existing state of things, he would find little difficulty in maintaining his views from the more ordinary use of the original words. Round the plainest Scripture language there is such a cluster of traditions which have not the shadow of a foundation to rest on, that the Jewish and Mohammedan legends regarding Adam, Cain, Nimrod, &c., are only grosser representations of them.

The plain grammatical and historical interpretation is the only clue out of this labyrinth. It is the only certain plan, as it is the easiest. The question is not-what may this teach? but what does it teach. The question is not-does it agree with what is called the analogy of faith? but is it the truth of the text? However startling a translation be, if it be only certain that it is the literal and idiomatic rendering of the passage in question, it must be in accordance with every other part of God's revealed will whether we see it or not.

We have been looking over a considerable number of the commentaries on the Bible which are at the present day commonly in use, including all those above mentioned, and amid much that is valuable, have been greatly struck by the uniform method of treatment which their authors adopt in reference to passages where the ancient versions differ. All is uncertainty and conjecture, and the one follows the other as regularly as a flock of sheep does its leader. We propose to take up some, if not all, of these in order, and accordingly begin with the "Miniature Quarto Bible," edited, we believe, by WILLIAM GREENFIELD, a gentleman highly and deservedly esteemed in his own day.

On Gen. i. 16, "He made the stars also," there is a side note: "or rather, the lesser light to rule the night, with the stars also." This