edness is abundantly heightened when we consider that he who intercedes, and he with whom intercession is made, are one in the same design and end. The divine glory is the first cause, and the final issue of all. The church, made up of redeemed sinners, is originally the Father's gift to the Son. (John xvii. 6.) The son hath purchased the church with his blood. (Acts xx. 28.) Hence, therefore, all the persons of the GODHEAD are engaged and interested in the same concern. And as Christ is God the Father's dear Son, so is the church the dear children of God in Christ: so that what our blessed Lord Jesus saith, when speaking of this very subject, comes home to the heart of the believer with the strongest and sweetest recommendation of tenderness. "At that day ye shall ask in my name, and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." (John xvi. 26, 27.) These are blessed views both of the Father's everlasting love, and Christ's unceasing intercession. And it is highly important to remark, and a point that should never be lost sight of, that Christ in all his intercessions never once prayeth for the Father's love to the church, but for the fruits and effects of that love and his own merits and death. Yea, Christ himself, with all his fulness, blessedness, and glory, is the gift of the Father; for the express doctrine of the gospel in its first and leading point is, "that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John. iii. 16.) For a farther illustration of Christ's office of Intercessor, see Advocate.

INTERPRETER. We meet with this word twice in the history of Joseph. (Gen. xl. 8; xlii. 23.) and

once in the history of Job, (chap. xxxiii. 23.) The office of an interpreter, in the general acceptation of the word, is not difficult to apprehend. It means, in our present use of the term, merely a person who explains to each party between whom he acts what each saith, because they do not understand one another's language, and this interpreter understands both. But in the Scripture sense of the word, the character of an interpreter riseth much higher. The original word, translated interpreter, (Gen. xlii. 23.) which is Malats, means something that is persuasive, smooth, or to soften, like our English word mollify. And the person that did this office between Joseph and his brethren is supposed, by the expression and the name of Malats, by which he is so called, to be a softener of Jacob's sons' speeches, by way of conciliating the favour of Joseph. And it would have been no violence to the passage if, instead of reading it as it is in our Bibles, it had been read, "and they knew not that Joseph heard them, for the Advocate was between them." The character of an interpreter in this sense, is truly interesting, and throws a great beauty upon this oriental history; and no less upon the similar passage in Job, for the word is the same in both. Indeed, some have not scrupled, in this last passage, to translate Malats, mediator, as conveying much nearer the sense of the passage, than that of an interpreter, unless it be remembered that in the eastern world a Malats, or interpreter, advocated the cause he interpreted.

And this view appears still more striking from Joseph's history as related to us in our own translation. For beside this interpretation given by the Malats to Joseph, it is plain, that Joseph and his brethren conversed together without the medium of an interpreter, as we read in the twenty-fourth verse:

for there it is said, "that he turned himself about from them and wept; and returned to them again and communed with them." Hence, therefore, it should seem, that in the eastern countries this office of interpreter was, as the very name implies, a very affectionate, tender, and interesting office. And though I would not go so far as to say, that the glorious Mediator of his people was prefigured in every use of it, yet I do venture to think it was peculiarly significant on this occasion amidst the brethren of Joseph. The church of Christ now, which those sons of Israel then represented, when standing before our governor, do not always know, that our Almighty Joseph knows, hears, and regards all; and yet, while carrying on his many offices, how often doth he commune with his people, both with and without mediums! Well might John behold him with his many crowns upon his head; for surely every office of his, in every individual sinner saved by him, demands a new crown of glory. (Rev. xix. 12.)

INVISIBLE. One of the distinguishing attributes of JEHOVAH. (1 Tim. i. 17.)

JOAB. One of the captains in David's army. His name is expressive of genealogy-from Ab, a father. His history begins 2 Sam. ii. and runs through the greater part of the life of David.

JOAKIM. The same as Eliakim. (Luke iii. 23.) JOANNA. Wife of Cuza. (Luke viii. 3.) Her name signifies, the gift or grace of God.

JOB. The man of Uz. His name signifies, what he himself was, one that weeps. His name is quoted with great honour by the Lord himself. (Ezek. xiv. 14.) and his patience recommended very forcibly by an Apostle. (James v. 11.)

JOCHEBED. The mother of Miriam, Aaron, and

Moses. (Exod. vi. 20.) The name is compounded of Cabad, glory; and Jah, the Lord.

JOEL. The prophet, whose writings form part of the sacred canon of Scripture, and are quoted by Peter in his sermon on the day of Pentecost. (See Joel ii. 28, 29, &c. Acts ii. 16, &c.)

There were several Joels beside the prophet, whose names are recorded in Scripture.

Joel, son of Samuel, 1 Sam. viii. 1, 2.
Joel, son of Josebiah, 1 Chron. iv. 35.

Joel, son of Jorabiah, 1 Chron. vii. 3.
Joel, one of David's army, 1 Chron. xi. 38.
Joel, a Levite, 1 Chron. xv. 7.

Joel, son of Pedaiah, 1 Chron. xxvii. 20. JOHANAN. Son of Careah. (2 Kings xxv. 23.) His name is compounded of Chanan, grace; and Jah, the Lord.

JOHN. Is an abbreviation of Johannan, and of much the same meaning. We need not dwell much upon this name, neither the persons so eminently distinguished by it. Their histories and worth are graciously preserved in the New Testament by God the Holy Ghost, and their names are in the book of life.

John the Baptist hath the priority in point of time, being born six months before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. John, the beloved apostle, was the youngest of all the disciples, and is not unfrequently distinguished by the title of the disciple whom Jesus loved. We have abundant cause to bless God for the ministry of this man, on account of the precious gospel which bears his name, and also for those three Epistles, as well as the Book of the Revelations, with which the sacred canon of Scripture closeth.

There is another John surnamed Mark, spoken of with honourable testimony in the New Testament.

(Acts xii. 12.) This man, though called John, and surnamed Mark, was neither the apostle John nor the evangelist Mark, but another person. Paul speaks of him, Coloss iv. 10.

JONADAB. The son of Rechab, (Jer. xxxv. 6; derived from Nadab, a prince.

JONAH. The son of Amittai the prophet. His history we have incorporated with his writings. If there were no other cause to recommend Jonah to the attention of the church, than his being declared by Christ himself to have been his type, this were enough. And how striking a one it is, the most inattentive reader can hardly fail to observe. On the subject of the Gourd, I believe that the general opinion of all travellers hath been, that it was the same as is called at Aleppo, the Polma Christi. Its growth is said to have been so rapid, that the Kekajon, for so it is called, will send out shoots, in the compass of a night, near four inches. In the margin of our Bibles it is called, "the son of the night," to intimate its quick progress, and consequently its short duration.

JONATHAN. Saul's son, David's dear friend, (1 Sam.

xviii. 1.) His death, with that of Saul, gave birth to one of the most poetical as well as devout elegies the world ever knew (2 Sam. i. 17. His name is compounded of Nathan, a gift; and Jah, the Lord. There are many of this name in Scripture.

Jonathan, a Levite, the son of Gershom, Judg. xviii. 20.

Jonathan, the son of Abiather the priest, 1 Kings i. 42.

Jonathan, the son of Shage the Hararite, 1 Chron. xi. 34.

Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, 1 Chron. xx. 7. Jonathan, or Jehonathan, the son of Uzziah, 1 Chron. xxvii. 25.