Barnabas, Mr. Miller stepped forward, flung his arms round was generally taken to be one of the most learned men of his neck, wept a flood of tears, and said, "Bless you! this age, or of any other since the fall of man. His acyou are a man of God, full of faith, and full of the Holyquaintance with languages and dialects, living and dead, Ghost." We know that by his labors much people were was prodigious, and considering the active life he was added to the Lord: his ministry is thought to have been compelled to lead, scarcely credible. His accumulation more successful than that of any of his companions, except of all knowledge was to an astonishing amount, as much, Mr. Benson's, and not less than his; and certainly was perhaps, as any man; he was an encyclopædia of all more successful than that of any minister now living, knowledge. His mind was a garden of deep and rich unless we except the Rev. Rowland Hill, who has had things, in the soil of which actual creations took place, some fifteen years more of public life and labor than he had. and whose growths exhibited at once the freshness of The interest that his visits in any part of the provinces spring, the beauty of summer, and the plenty of autumn, excited was prodigious, and will by and by become incred- where the chills and barrenness of winter were never ible. And here it must be sufficient to say, that during known. Yet that same mind was a laboratory, into which the greater part of his life, down to the last closing day, knowledge without measure was brought from every kinghe could, in any city, town, or village, in England or dom of nature, and all the labyrinths of history, and all Ireland, have filled and crowded the largest chapel, on the the wells of literature, and all the depths of philosophy, morning of any week day of the six: and as to his collec- and especially from that great and endless dell-human tions, every body knows there was a marked difference nature, in which they were all subjected to the processes between their amount and those of the most talented and of a gigantic apparatus of mental chemistry; and the reeloquent of his coadjutors. sults of the whole were deposited in the spacious receivers and unnumbered cavities, where, whenever called for, they were ready to be run off to serve the grand purposes of the Almighty, in the firmament of the physical, moral, and spiritual improvement of the species.

For several years he has been regarded with far more reverence than is ordinarily felt by a people towards an established and able minister. His high character-his extended reputation-his achievement of an elaborate and imperial Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, with the Nor can I suffer this occasion to pass without stating accurate meaning of which it was presumed he was my opinion of that chef d'œuvre of his laborious hand-I acquainted, above the lot of his own coevals and brethren mean his Commentary on the Scriptures. His labors, in general-his venerable, grand, and apostolic appearance in that respect, were those of a miner; he separated each -the unfaded freshness of mind which he retained through portion of metal from its adjacent mass-assayed, weighed, a long life of ministerial greatness-his title to some of the measured, tested every sentiment, word, article, accent, most distinguished honors in the aristocracy of letters point, and sound of the sacred treasure; and then fearwith many other considerations, which I cannot touchlessly, manfully, unequivocally and truthfully recorded, in upon,-gave to his name, and person, and ministry a popularity whose volume and depth distinguished it from that of any other, even the most acknowledged and distinguished men amongst us.

But he is not merely to be considered as a Methodist, though his attachment to Methodism never knew any diminution; and towards the people his affection was maintained, through evil and through good report, unaltered, and, we believe, undiminished to the last. But as he was the very antipodes of bigotry and sectarianism, he took a lively interest in every thing affecting the fortune, and condition, and prosperity, and destiny of the church of Christ. A more expansive and generous mind we know not. His judgment of his brethren was never harsh or severe; and he was always ready to put the best construction on their sayings and doings which truth and justice would admit, and almost more than that. His kindly feeling towards his brethren and mankind at large, it has been thought he carried to excess; but he knew more men and more of men than most: and the result of his extended commerce with liberal and opposing parties was that his love to all was increased-the never-failing effect of travel being to rub off the austerities, to dilate the contractions, to diminish the selfishness, which are found to hang about all men who live within the narrow limits of some nutshell locality.

As a patriot and citizen he is entitled to honorable mention, having an ardent love of the constitution and the king, and regarding the liberty and independence of the people as their birthright and their glory. And though he meddled with politics much less than some of his brethren, he was never indifferent to any thing that bore, directly or indirectly, upon the weal or the wo of this great empire, which he longed to see filled with knowledge and righteousness. He felt an interest in the welfare of all countries as well as his own, because he felt that every man was his brother, and that every man might be saved. He therefore looked forward to the time when the errors and delusions of Satan would come to an end-when ignorance, cruelty, slavery, and war, should be expelled the world-when the beauty of holiness should fill every region, and the sound of salvation float on every breeze. Vast and unbounded was the extent of his labors for the accomplishment of this consummation. Many of his mightiest physical efforts in the cause of the renovation of the world, have been the sermons he delivered on behalf of the Missionary Society. In him the heathen have lost a friend, whose advocacy of their cause was crowned with unparalleled success.

His great and primary distinction was a clear, and searching, and profound, and powerful understanding, which apprehended speedily, and seized eagerly, and discriminated sagaciously on the merits of any subject, in all its various issues and complex relations; and which advanced to its decision with unhesitating promptitude and unflinching firmness. His learning was immense; and being all devoted to benevolent ends, it stamped on his life and character an interest of the most exalted order. He

the fear of God, his conviction of the meaning of the written Word. And, as I have said, he was an encyclopædia of letters and knowledge, so his Commentary is an encyclopædia of biblical science and learning, and will be remembered longer than the Egyptian pyramids, and stand a mighty, Alpine monument of the wisdom, piety, benevolence, zeal, Herculean labor, indefatigable industry, and immense application of its gifted, and distinguished, and ennobled, and illustrious author. As to the few peculiarities of opinion, on account of which the work has been, by some, attempted to be disparaged, they do not affect any essential, leading doctrine of religion: and we affirm, that no other commentator, in this or any other country, has taught and established more clearly, and pointedly, and forcefully, the fall and depravity of human nature-the redemption by Christ Jesus-the efficacy and extent of the atonement-the justification of the sinner by faith in that atonement-the necessity and reality of the influence of the Holy Ghost-and the entire sanctification of the whole man, than he who, though "dead, yet speaketh." By his labors he has not only cleared the ground, filled up the ditches, and smoothed the roads; but drained, planted, sowed, and watered the surface of the country. The press, as well as the pulpit, was the great weapon of his warfare; and it might be said of him as it was said of Luther, "He had thought, matter, and mind, for all that he did." I am aware that this eminent man has been much blamed for broaching any opinions-however light they may be and comparatively insignificant-which are not generally received and avowed by the body to which he belonged, and to which he was ever proud to belong. I confess, that, though I am not one of those that adopted these opinions, yet I always admired and confided in, and venerated the character of the doctor the more and yet the more, for his unflinching, uncompromising, unprevaricating honesty and faithfulness in this matter. He had undertaken and had announced himself to the world in and under the character of a commentator on the Bible; and this being the case, it was not optional for him to withhold his deliberate sentiments on any portion of the volume. He had voluntarily engaged-but solemnly and bindingly engaged-to give the sense and meaning, as he understood it, and as far as he understood it, of the Scriptures, and of the whole Scriptures. He fulfilled his engagement; and he had the rare good fortune and the transcendent honor of finishing and giving to the world, a learned, pious, critical, colossal and honest Commentary on the entire books of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, which is found alike on the shop-board of the mechanic and in the cabinet of the learned-on the shelf of the poor man's cottage and in the libraries of the kings and princes of the earth.

I had written thus far when the time of night summoned me into this place. I might go on a great way, but you, I am sure, are anxious I should close.

I am aware you will say, "Well-had he no faults?" O yes, to be sure he had; for he was a man, and not an angel-a saved sinner, and not an immaculate, impeccable

creature. Faults! It has been said that he was dogmati- | cal. Well, and so he was; and so is every man that has the power of mind, and the mass of learning, and the station and the character which he had. Dogmatical! Why, Dr. Parr was dogmatical-Dr. Johnson was dogmatical-John Wesley was dogmatical; and every great, learned, and illustrious man may be said to be somewhat dogmatical. The sun is very dogmatical in the dog-days, when it pours its irradiations on the head of a man that is travelling. The lightning is very dogmatical when it strikes and scathes the stately oak. The flood is very dogmatical when it plunges, and dashes, and puts forth its powerful influence to find its level.

It has been said he was obstinate. Obstinate! Why, in the granite of his noble mind, some of the granulations may have been flinty and adamantine; but you will observe, that firmness is often mistaken for obstinacy; and that every man who stands on the eminence which he stood on, is obliged to be firm to a degree that sometimes does border on obstinacy. It has been said that he was eccentric. Why, yes, indeed; and so would you be if you had a decimal fraction of the strength and originality of his astonishing mass of learning. It has been said, that he was not eloquent. Eloquent! Why, there is a sort of eloquence that he had: but any man may be eloquent who has got a flood of feeling in his soul, and intelligence in his head, and independence in his thoughts, and volubility in his tongue. But it is not every eloquent man that could think, or say, or do as he did. His attainments were lifted far up above the mere character of eloquence and refinement of taste.

I gave it before as my own opinion, that at the moment of his death he occupied a larger space in the public eye, and a deeper lodgment in the public heart, not only of the eminent communion to which for fifty years he belonged, but of all the living Christianity now found upon the globe. In losing him we seem as if a great river had been dried up as if a sun had been quenched-as if a lighthouse had been upset in the midst of the ocean. Our loss is great; but his gain is vastly greater.

To my own mind, it is beyond all measure affecting,

24

that the last Sunday evening I preached in this place, it was a funeral sermon for the late Mr. Storry, whom I had interred in the adjoining ground that afternoon, and who had died but the day before! Then we considered and lamented the death of an eminent Christian, and an able and successful minister of the New Testament. We were struck with the suddenness of the loss and separation in that case; and we came and glorified God in him whose holy life and useful labors had been brought to an abrupt close. We then put into the mouth of that much-loved servant of the Saviour, the precious testimony of the apostle, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." I was then filled with the conviction, that it was my duty to go to Liverpool. A few hours after I left this pulpit, I was on my way there, to discharge what I felt, be it right or wrong, a debt to Dr. CLARKE and the Methodist connexion. My manner of discharging that, no doubt, was exceedingly faulty, as is my manner of doing every thing I attempt to do; but that I did it then-that I did it at all-affords me the highest satisfaction of any public event of my life. Down to the last day of my existence I must look back upon the attempt-upon the motives that prompted me, with the approbation of my mind. I have lived long enough to know that self-reproach is an infinitely greater calamity than any other reproach except the reproach of the Almighty.

And now, my friends, to Him that liveth and reignethto Him that made the departed individual what he wasto Him that connected his labors with this church-to the only wise God-Him alone who hath immortality,-be honor, and glory, and might, and majesty, and dominion forever and ever! Amen.

It ought to be generally known that Mr. Beaumont here alludes to the testimony which he felt it his duty to bear against the conference, for voting Dr. Clarke a supernumerary relation, contrary to the expressed wish of the Doctor. Mr. B. has inmortalized his name by his bold and magnanimous manner on the occasion.

PREFACE

TO THE

BOOK OF GENESIS.

opinion those who were best qualified

VERY believer in Divine Revelation finds himself amply justified in taking for granted that the Pentateuch is the to form a correct judgment on this subject. The Jewish church, from its most remote antiquity, has ascribed the work to no other hand; and the Christian church, from its foundation, has attributed it to the Jewish lawgiver alone. The most respectable heathens have concurred in this testimony, and Jesus Christ and his apostles have completed the evidence, and have put the question beyond the possibility of being doubted by those who profess to believe the divine authenticity of the New Testament. As to unbelievers in general, they are worthy of little regard, as argument is lost on their unprincipled prejudices, and demonstration on their minds, because ever wilfully closed against the light. When they have proved that Moses is not the author of this work, the advocates of Divine Revelation will reconsider the grounds of their faith.

That there are a few things in the Pentateuch which seem to have been added by a later hand, there can be little doubt; among these, some have reckoned, perhaps, without reason, the following passage, Gen. xii. 6. And the Canaanite was then in the land. But see the note on this place. Num. xxi. 14. În the book of the wars of the Lord, was probably a marginal note, which in process of time got into the text: see the note on this passage also. To these may be added the five first verses of Deuteronomy, chap. i.-the twelfth of chap. ii. and the eight concluding verses of the last chapter, in which we have an account of the death of Moses. These last words could not have been added by Moses himself, but are very probably the work of Ezra, by whom, according to uninterrupted tradition among the Jews, the various books, which constitute the canon of the Old Testament, were collected and arranged, and such expository notes added, as were essential to connect the different parts: but as he acted under divine inspiration, the additions may be considered of equal authority with the text. A few other places might be added, but they are of little importance, and are mentioned in the notes.

The book of GENESIS, TIVI, has its name from the title it bears in the Septuagint, Bros Tvis (ch. ii. v. 4.) which signifies the book of the generation, but it is called in Hebrew N Bereshith, "In the beginning," from its initial word: it is the most ancient history in the world; and from the great variety of its singular details, and most interesting accounts, is as far superior in its value and importance to all others, as it is in its antiquity. This book contains an account of the creation of the world, and its first inhabitants; the original innocence and fall of man; the rise of religion; the invention of arts; the general corruption and degeneracy of mankind; the universal deluge; the repeopling and division of the earth; the origin of nations and kingdoms; and a particular history of the patriarchs from Adam down to the death of Joseph, including a space at the least computation of 2369 years.

It may be asked, how a detail so circumstantial and minute could have been preseryed, when there was no writing of any kind; and when the earth, whose history is here given, had already existed more than 2000 years? To this inquiry a very satisfactory answer may be given. There are only three ways in which these important records could have been preserved and brought down to the time of Moses: viz. writing, tradition, and Divine Revelation. In the antediluvian world, when the life of man was so protracted, there was, comparatively, little need for writing of any kind: and perhaps no alphabetical writing then existed. Tradition answered every purpose to which writing in any kind of characters could be subservient; and the necessity of erecting monuments to perpetuate public events, could scarcely have suggested itself, as during those times there could be little danger apprehended of any important fact becoming obsolete, as its history had to pass through very few hands, and all these friends and relatives in the most proper sense of the terms; for they lived in an insulated state, under a patriarchal government.

Thus it was easy for Moses to be satisfied of the truth of all he relates in the book of Genesis, as the accounts came to him through the medium of very few persons. From Adam to Noah there was but one man necessary to the correct transmission of the history of this period of 1656 years. Now this history was, without doubt, perfectly known to Methuselah who lived to see them both. In like manner, Shem connected Noah and Abraham, having lived to converse with both; as Isaac did with Abraham and Joseph, from whom these things might be easily conveyed to Moses by Amram, who was contemporary with Joseph. Supposing, then, all the curious facts recorded in the book of Genesis had no other authority than the tradition already referred to, they would stand upon a foundation of credibility superior to any that the most reputable of the ancient Greek and Latin historians can boast. Yet, to preclude all possibility of mistake, the unerring Spirit of God directed Moses in the selection of his facts, and the ascertaining of his dates. Indeed the narrative is so simple; so much like truth; so consistent every where with itself; so correct in its dates; so impartial in its biography; so accurate in its philosophical details; so pure in its morality; and so benevolent in its design, as amply to demonstrate that it never could have had an earthly origin. In this case also, Moses constructed every thing according to the pattern which God showed him in the mount.

VOL. I.-4

25

25

THE

FIRST BOOK OF MOSES,

CALLED

GENESIS.

Year before the common year of Christ, 4004-Julian Period, 710-Cycle of the Sun, 10-Dominical Letter, B.-Cycle of the Moon, 7.-Indiction, 5.-Creation from Tisri or September, according to the Jewish Computation, 1.

CHAPTER I.

First day's work-Creation of the heavens and the earth, 1, 2. Of the light, and its separation from the darkness, 3-5. Second day's work-The Creation of the firmament, and the separation of the waters above the firmament from those below it, 68. Third day's work-The waters are separated from the earth, and formed into seas, &c. 9, 10. The earth rendered fruitful, and clothed with trees, herbs, grass, &c. 11-13 Fourth day's work-Creation of the celestial luminaries, intended for the measurement of time, the distinction of periods, seasons, &c. 14. and to illuminate the earth, 15. Distinct account of the formation of the sun, moon, and stars, 17-19. Fifth day's work-The creation of fish, fowls, and reptiles in general, 20. Of great aquatic animals, 21. They are blessed so as to make them very prolific, 21-23 Sirth day's work-Wild and tame cattle created, and all kinds of animals which derive their nourishment from the earth, 24, 25. The creation of man in the image and likeness of God, with the dominion given him over the earth and all inferior animals, 26. Man or Adam a general name for human beings, including both male and female, 27 Their peculiar blessing, 28. Vegetables appointed as the food of man and all other animals, 29, 30. The judgment which God passed on his works at the conclusion of his creative acts, 31.

In the beginni

b

N the beginning God created the heavens | and darkness was upon the face of the deep. d And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

2 And the earth was without form and void;

a Prov. 8. 22, 23, 24. Mark 13. 19. John 1. 1, 2 Hebr. 1. 10.-b 1 Chron. 16. 26. Neh. 9. 6. Ps 8 3 & 33, 6 & 89. 11, 12 & 96. 5. & 102, 25. & 104 24. & 115. 15. & 121, 2 & 124. 8. & 134. 3. & 136. 5. & 146. 6. Prov. 3. 19. & 8. 26, 27, &c. Eccles. 12. 1. Isni. 37. 16. & 42 5. & 44, 24. & 51. 16. & 65. 17. Jer. 10. 12. & 32 17. & 51. 15.

NOTES ON CHAPTER I.

Verse 1. AND AN IN Bereshith bara Elohim eth hashamayim veeth haarets. GOD in the beginning created the heavens and the earth.] Many attempts have been made to define the term GÓD: as to the word itself, it is a pure Anglo-Saxon, and among our ancestors signified not only the Divine Being, now commonly designated by the word, but also good; as in their apprehension, it appears, that God and good were correlative terms; and when they thought or spoke of him they were ever led, from the word itself, to consider him as THE GOOD BEING, a fountain of infinite benevolence and beneficence towards his creatures.

Zech. 12. 1. Acts 4. 24. & 14. 15. & 17. 24. Rom. 1. 20. Eph. 3. 9. Colos. 1 16, 17. Hebr. 1. 2 & 11. 3. 2 Pet. 3. 5. Rev. 1. 8. & 3. 14. & 4. 11. & 10. 6. & 14. 7. & 21. 6. & 22. 13.- Isai. 45. 18. Jer. 4. 23.-d Psa. 101. 30. Isai. 40. 13, 14.

Persons in this work of creation. In the ever-blessed Trinity, from the infinite and indivisible unity of the Persons, there can be but one will, one purpose, and one infinite and uncontrollable energy.

"Let those who have any doubt whether Dr Elohim, when meaning the true God, Jehovah, be plural or not, consult the following passages, where they will find it joined with adjectives, verbs, and pronouns plural.

Gen. i. 26. iii. 22. xi. 7. xx. 13. xxxi. 7, 53. xxxv. 7. Deut. iv. 7. v. 23. Josh. xxiv. 19. 1 Sam. iv. 8. 2 Sam. vii. 23. Ps. lviii. 12. Isa. vi. 8. Jer. x. 10. xxiii. 36.

See also Prov. ix. 10. xxx. 3. Ps. cxlix. 2. Eccl. v. 7. xii. 1. Job. v. 1. Isa. vi. 3. liv. 5. lxii. 5. Hos. xi. 12. or xii. 1. Mal. i. 6. Dan. v. 18, 20. vii. 18, 22." PARKHUrst.

A general definition of this great First Cause, as far as human words dare attempt one, may be thus given. The eter- As the word Elohim is the term by which the Divine nal, independent, and self-existent Being: the Being whose Being is most generally expressed in the Old Testament, purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign it may be necessary to consider it here more at large. It motive or influence: He who is absolute in dominion; the is a maxim that admits of no controversy, that every noun most pure, most simple, and most spiritual of all Essences: in the Hebrew language is derived from a verb, which is infinitely benevolent, beneficent, true, and holy: the Cause usually termed the radix or root, from which not only the of all being, the Upholder of all things: infinitely happy, noun, but all the different flexions of the verb, spring. because infinitely good; and eternally self-sufficient, need- This radix is the third person singular of the preterite or ing nothing that he has made. Illimitable in his immensity, past tense. The ideal meaning of this root expresses some inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable essential property of the thing which it designates, or of in his essence: known fully only to Himself, because an which it is an appellative. The root in Hebrew, and in its infinite mind can only be comprehended by itself. In a sister language, the Arabic, generally consists of three word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err letters, and every word must be traced to its root in order or be deceived; and who, from his infinite goodness, can to ascertain its genuine meaning, for there alone is this do nothing but what is eternally just, right, and kind. meaning to be found. In Hebrew and Arabic this is essenReader, such is the God of the Bible, but how widely tially necessary, and no man can safely criticise on any different from the God of most human creeds and appre-word in either of these languages, who does not carefully hensions! attend to this point.

The original words Elohim, God, is certainly the plural form of el, and has long been supposed by the most eminently learned and pious men, to imply a plurality of Persons in the Divine nature. As this plurality appears in so many parts of the Sacred Writings, to be confined to three Persons, hence the doctrine of the TRINITY, which has formed a part of the creed of all those who have been deemed sound in the faith, from the earliest ages of Christianity. Nor are the Christians singular in receiving this doctrine, and in deriving it from the first words of Divine Revelation. An eminent Jewish rabbin, Simeon ben Joachi, in his comment on the sixth section of Leviticus has these remarkable words: "Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim: there are three degrees, and each degree by itself alone, and yet, notwithstanding, they are all one, and joined together in one, and are not divided from each other." He must be strangely prejudiced indeed, who cannot see that the doctrine of a Trinity, and of a Trinity in Unity, is clearly expressed in the above words. The verb 2 bara, he created, being joined in the singular number with this plural noun, has been considered as pointing out, and not obscurely, the Unity of the Divine

I mention the Arabic with the Hebrew for two reasons. 1. Because the two languages evidently spring from the same source, and have very nearly the same mode of construction. 2. Because the deficient roots in the Hebrew Bible are to be sought for in the Arabic language. The reason of this must be obvious, when it is considered that the whole of the Hebrew language is lost, except what is in the Bible, and even a part of this is written in Chaldee.

Now, as the English Bible does not contain the whole of the English language, so the Hebrew Bible does not contain the whole of the Hebrew. If a man meet with an English word which he cannot find in an ample concordance or dictionary to the Bible, he must of course seek for that word in a general English dictionary. In like manner, if a particular form of a Hebrew word occur that cannot be traced to a root in the Hebrew Bible, because the word does not occur in the third person singular of the past tense in the Bible, it is expedient, it is perfectly lawful, and often indispensably necessary, to seek the deficient root in the Arabic. For, as the Arabic is still a living language, and perhaps the most copious in the universe; it may well be expected to furnish those terms which are deficient in