they will do it under A false chaT110l!er, such as farmers or herdmen. "I belong to that class in Bociety which lies under the l!'ast suspicion of nspiring to a function in which knowledge of affairs, dexterity in making use of men's weaknesses, and some lit.erary f11culty are needed. Besides, • men own me from my youth' (for this is the meauing of the words rendered, 'men taught me to keep cattle from my youth'); and so if I had had the will I could never have had the chance of setting up as a prophet. I hare not been my own master. Not quite satisfied with this disclaimer,,the supposed examiners ask to be allowed to look at his hands, as you can judge roughly of a man's calling by the state of his hands-at least, you cau thus judge whether a,man is earning his bread with his hands or his head. 'l'hey at once detect suspicious marks on this man's hands, wounds which they evidently suspect to have been self-inflicted in accordance with some idolatrous rite. Self-mutilation and self-laceration have always been common accessories of pagan worship, and common accompaniments of.manifesta- tions of pagan fanatical ecstasy. They are fa.r from uncommon still in heathen and in Mohammedan countries. Permanent marks of a distinctive kind were also frequently made upon different parts of the person, and especially upon the arms, in acknowledgment of allegiance to some particular god (Jer. xlviii. 37), where mourning is thus,described: • Every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings.' But the me.n denies that his wounds have any such significance ; th!ly .!'re not, he says, religious marks at all: • they are wounds which I received in the house of friends,' in some rustic frolic with his boon companions, or as the slave's brand in the house of his master" (Dr. Dods). Should their disclaiming be questioned, they will take shelt.er in falsehood. " And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? 'l'hen he shall answer, Those with which I was ,wounded in the house of my friends." " The doubting examiner asks him to show him his hands, that he may ascertain if he has the rough hands of a farmer; those hands he showM, but they have nevertheless marks of a prophet on them, and of these very marks hEl gi'l"es a false account." "I was wounded in the house of my frienus." , CoNCLUSIOK. Thank God, we live in this gospel age. The sin~cleansing fouµtain is here, sending forth its streams in all directions. They flow through all the goQd books we have, through all the good lives we meet with. Let the stream~ multiply. The fountain will supply streams equal to the exigencies of all. ;Let us remove obstructions, cut new channels, and strive to let them into every heart. These will multiply in power, and increase in volume, till all idolatry, false teaching, and every other form of iniquity that pollutes the heart of the world, be washed clean away, and the whol_e world be holy in character, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.-D. T.
Vers. 7-'iJ.-God's government of the world. "Awake, 0 sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man tbat is my fellow, s:i.ith the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd, and tbe sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Loru, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but tke third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part throucrh the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried:° they shall call on my Name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God." Here we have God's government of the world in two aspects, bringing penal ruin on 'f/Ul,ny in a community, and remedia,l discipline upon a few; appearing as the sword of justice in the one case, and as a refiner's pot in the other. Here we have it-- , I. As BRINGING PENAL BUIN UPON MANY. 1. Thedestruceionoftheirleader. "Awake, O sword against wy Shepherd." In the Bible language political religious lead~rs ar~ represented as shepherds. For example, it w~ applied to ~ rus (Isa._~iv. 28)._ T~e person defined is represented as "the man that 1s my fellow. 1 Dr. Keil s rendering 1s, "the man who is my neighbour;" and Dr. Henderson's, "the man who is united to me." Who is this man? On this question there are different opinions, "Calion tLou,.,Lt it wae Zechariah himself as representative of all the prophets, and that the prupLecy referred only indirectly to Christ. Groti~, ~ichhorn, Bauer, and Jaime apply it to Judas Maccabreus; Ewald, to Pekah; H1tzig, to the pretended prophets spoken of in the preceding verses." The expression," my fellow," does not necess~rily wean one who is equal in nature and character. but rather one who has fellowsh1p of Ott. lr:ttt. 1-9.] 'l'HE nooK OF ZECHARIAB.