Bible renders it, within my bowels, meaning, that so perfectly holy and pure was the human nature of Christ, that the law of his Father was incorporated in his very being; an inwrought holiness mixed up and becoming his person and his existence. What a precious blessed view doth it afford of the Lord Jesus!

And what I beg the reader also particularly to remark, this purity, this holiness of the Lord Jesus in our nature, is, to all intents and purposes, that

holiness in which JEHOVAH beholds his church in Jesus. This, I believe, is not so generally understood nor considered by the faithful as it ought; but it is what the Scriptures of God, in every part, warrant. Jesus becoming our Surety is expressly said to have been made both sin and a curse for his redeemed, that "they might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13.) And what a blessedness is there contained in this one view of the completeness of the church in Jesus? So that, in the very moment that the child of God feels the workings of corruption within him, and is groaning under a body of sin and death, which he carries about with him, though he sees nothing in himself but sin and imperfection, yea, sometimes, as it appears to him, growing imperfections, yet looking to the Lord Jesus as his Surety, and considering the Redeemer's holiness, and not any thing in himself, as the standard of justification, here he rests his wellfounded hope. This was blessedly set forth by the Holy Ghost: (Isa. xlv. 24.) “Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength; even to him shall men come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed." BRANCH. From the vast importance of this word in Scripture, as it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ,

it is marked by the prophet Zechariah in capitals. It seems, therefore, to demand our more particular attention. We find Christ spoken of, under the spirit of prophecy, by the Lord JEHOVAH, in this character by three of the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. It will be profitable for the reader to consult the several passages. (Isa. iv. 2. and xi. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5. and xxxiii. 15. Zech. iii. 8. and vi. 12.) The word Branch in the original is Netzer, which signifies, a city of plants. And to shew the correspondence to Christ, the Netzer, or Nazareth, where Jesus dwelt, was named from the same root. (See Matt. ii. 23.) The parallel passage in Zechariah, chap. vi. 12. is to the same effect. Ezekiel, in allusion to the Lord Jesus, speaks of him under the similitude of the plants, like Nazareth, but describes him "as a plant of renown." (Ezek. xxxiv. 24-29.).

BRASS. This word is sometimes used figuratively, to express power, durableness, and hardness. Thus in relation to Christ, John saith, when he saw him in that glorious vision, (Rev. i. 15.) "his feet were like unto fine brass, as if burning in a furnace;" denoting the glory and everlasting nature of his person and kingdom. We read also of mountains of brass in reference to the everlasting establishment of JEHOVAH's purposes, Zech. vi. 1. Sometimes the word brass is made use of to set forth the impudence of hardened sinners; "Thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass." (Isa. xlviii. 4.) And sometimes the Lord gives some sweet and precious promises to his people under this figure," Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion! for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass." (Micah iv. 13.)

BREAD. Sometimes bread is spoken of in Scrip

ture in the common acceptation of it, as the staff of

natural life, but more frequently it is used in figure, by way of allusion to the Lord Jesus and the spiritual life in him. Jesus calls himself "the living bread, and the bread of God;" to intimate, that as the natural man is sustained day by day, and life kept up and preserved by receiving the common bread for the body, so the spiritual life in Jesus is wholly supported by communications from Jesus, and life in Jesus. "Whosoever eateth of him shall live for ever." (John vi. 32-58.)

The shew bread of the Old Tesatment was typical of Christ. It consisted of twelve loaves made without leaven, to intimate that there is nothing leavened in Christ. The shew bread was placed new upon the golden altar. Christ is our New Testament altar; and all offerings must be offered upon the golden altar of his mediatorial nature. The shew bread was placed there every Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath, and the rest wherewith the Lord causeth "the weary to rest, and their refreshing." (See Exod. xxv. 30. Isa. xxviii. 12. Ps. cxvi. 7. Matt. xi. 28.) It may not be improper to add, that the term shew bread meant the bread of faces; and, probably, it was so called, because offered in the presence of the Lord, and placed before him on the table. The Israelites called all their loaves by the name of Huggath.

The unleavened bread of the passover, there is particular mention made of it, Exod. xii. 8. And concerning leavened bread, with which the blood of the sacrifice was never to be offered, what a beautiful type was this of the untainted, pure offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all. No altar but that of earth, (because the earth is the Lord's,) was to be made for offering. If but a tool was lifted up upon the altar of earth, or stone, the whole was polluted. (Exod. xxiii. 18.

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Exod. xx. 24, 25.) And is it not the same now in the believer's offerings in Jesus? When in commemoration of the Lord's supper we partake of the bread and wine, as tokens of the body and ⚫ blood of Christ, would it not be a pollution to leaven this solemn service with any thing of ours? Is not Christ all and in all?

BREASTPLATE.

This was a part of the high priest's dress, which he wore when performing his office in the temple service. On this breastplate were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and it was called, "the breastplate of judgment." (Exod. xxviii. 15.) The design of it seems to have been to typify the Lord Jesus Christ, the great and almighty High Priest of his redeemed, who going in before JEHOVAH, bears the names, and persons, and concerns of all his people. Hence, the church so vehemently desired the Lord that she might be set " as a seal upon his heart, and a seal upon his arm." The former the tenderest, and the latter the strongest part in Jesus's affection. (Song viii. 6.) And hence, in allusion to the same, the apostle exhorts the church to put on the breastplate of faith and love ;" meaning, a steadfast looking unto Christ in the exercise of those graces, by relying wholly on him for mercy and salvation. (1 Thess. v. 8.)

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BREATH. This word is sometimes made use of in Scripture in allusion to the Lord Jesus Christ. For as the breath of the body is the life of the body, so Christ is the breath or life of the soul. Hence, the prophet Jeremiah, in reference to Christ, saith, "the breath of our nostrils, the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits.” (Lam. iv. 20.) And hence, when the Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, imparted to his disciples the gracious influences of his Spirit, it is said, that

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he breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." (John xx. 22.)

BRETHREN and BROTHER. Holy Scripture hath several distinct meanings for this term, and of very different significations from each other. To be of the same nature, or disposition, to be of the same town, or country, or occupation in trade, is sometimes made the cause for calling men brethren. And in Scripture to be of the same stock, or family, though not of the same parents, constitutes a brother. Thus, as in the instance of our Lord Jesus Christ after the flesh, James and Joses were called the brethren of Christ, but in fact, were not so, but only relations of that tribe to which Jesus belonged. For Mary, the mother of James and Joses, was the wife of Cleophas, and not the Virgin Mary. (Matt. xxvii. 56. John xix. 25.) And sometimes the name of brother is used to describe men of like character, in idleness, or iniquity. Thus Solomon saith, "He that is slothful in his work, is brother to him that is a great waster." (Prov. xviii. 9.)

But when the reader hath carefully marked the application of the name brother to these and the like characters, there is a view of the subject perfectly foreign to every other, and above all, in which when the name of brother is considered as applied to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our relationship in him, it forms the sweetest of all thoughts. Hence the church, before Christ's open manifestation in the flesh, so passionately longed for his coming. "O (said she) that thou wert as my brother that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised." (Song viii. 1.) And, indeed, Jesus in his human nature is the nearest and dearest of all brothers; and in his person is centered a compre