Greece;' neither could it well be confined to the philosophers there, but must have been known by those to whom the apostle wrote generally. If so, then not only was the sacred writer justified in selecting it by way of illustration, but he had more reason than modern inconsiderates have supposed for calling them 'fools' who did not properly reflect on what was acknowledged and admitted among themselves.

There is a very sudden turn of metaphor used by the apostle Paul, in Romans vi. 3-5; 'Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death-that we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together [with him] in the likeness of his death, we shall be also planted in the likeness of his resurection.' But what has baptism to do with planting? Wherein consists their similarity, so as to justify the resemblance here implied? In 1 Peter iii. 21, we find the apostle speaking of baptism, figuratively, as 'saving us ;' and alluding to Noah, who long lay buried in the Ark, as corn long lies buried in the earth. Now, as after having died to his former course of life, in being baptized, a convert was considered as rising to a renewed life, so after having been separated from his former connexions, his seed-bed as it were, after having died in being planted, he was considered as rising to a renewed life, also. The ideas therefore conveyed by the apostle in these verses are precisely the same; though the metaphors are different. Moreover, if it were anciently common to speak of a person, after baptism, as rising to a renewed life, and to consider corn also as sprouting to a renewed life, then we see how easily Hymeneus and Philetus (2 Tim. ii. 17, 18,) concerning the truth might err, saying, that the resurrection was past already,' in baptism, [quasi in planting-that is, in being transferred to Christianity] in which error they did little more than annex their old heathen notions to the Christian institution. The transition was extremely easy; but unless checked in time, the error might have become very dangerous.

THIS is the principal and most valuable of all kinds of grain. It is called in Hebrew chetah, a word the etymology of which it is not easy to ascertain. In 2 Samuel xvii. 28, the word occurs in a plural form, whence Scheuchzer infers, that it comprehended, anciently, all sorts of wheaten corn cleansed from impurities. This, however, seems doubtful, because barley is expressly mentioned in connexion with it: it refers perhaps to several kinds of wheat; or what is more probable, is a specimen of that lax mode of expression which is so common, and indeed necessary, in all languages.

The meat-offerings, as they are called in the English Bible, of the Levitical dispensation, were not what their designation would seem to imply; animal flesh, but wheat, either in its simple state, or reduced to flour, or made up into cakes. See Lev. ch. ii.

The wheat (ber) of Jer. xxiii. 28, Joel ii. 24, and Amos v. 11, is no doubt the burr or wild corn of the Arabs, mentioned by Forskal, In Gen. xli, 35, the same word is rendered corn,

BARLEY.

THIS Well known grain derives its Hebrew name shoreh, from the long hairy beard which grows upon its ear.

In Palestine, the barley was sown in the month of October, and reaped in the end of March, just after the passover. In Egypt, at the time of the seventh plague (Exod. ix. 13), which happened a few days before the passover, the barley was in the green ear, from which it seems that the harvest was later there than in the land of Canaau.

In 1 Kings iv. 28, barley is spoken of as the usual food for horses, and so it still continues to be in Syria.

Pliny states barley to have been the most ancient aliment of mankind, and it is evident from several passages of scripture, that it was used for the making of bread among the Jewish people. See 2 Sam. xvii. 28; 2 Kings iv. 22; 2 Chron. ii. 15; John vi. 8-10, &c.

RYE.

THIS species of corn is called cesmeth, probably from its long hair or beard. Dr. Shaw supposes that rice is the grain intended by the original. On the other hand, Hasselquist states that the Egyptians learned the cultivation of rice under the Caliphs; and Parkhurst has shown that the traveller has misunderstood the statement of the Roman naturalist. In Ezek. iv. 9, the Hebrew word is rendered fitches, a kind of tare.

MILLET.

THE Hebrew name of this grain is dechen, from a root which signifies to thrust forth, impel, &c.; and it is so called, perhaps, from its thrusting forth such a quantity of grains, above every other known plant. Thus, in Latin it is called milium, as if one stalk bore a thousand grains. It is no doubt the same kind of grain as is now called in the East durra, which is a kind of millet, and when made into bad bread, with camel's milk, oil, butter, or grease, is almost the only food which is eaten by the common people in Arabia Felix. Niebuhr found it so disagreeable, he states, that he would willingly have preferred to it plain barley-bread. This re mark tends to illustrate Ezekiel iv. 9.

REEDS.

On the banks and in the streams of the Nile reeds grow in immense quantities, and hence it is, probably, that in 2 Kings xviii. 21, the country of Egypt is called a reed: 'Now, behold, thou trusteth upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.' The prophet Ezekiel attests the fidelity of the Assyrian general's representation: 'And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they all took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break and rend their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou breakest and madest all their loins to be at a stand,' ch. ix. 6, 7. Hence we see what is meant by a bruised reed, in Isa. xlii. 3, and from its reference to the church, we must understand it of a weak believer, or perhaps, more particularly, of one whose heart is broken and contrite, for past offences.

In 1 Kings xiv. 15, the transgressions of Israel call forth the following denunciation of punishment: The Lord shall smite Israel as a reed shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of the good land which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their idol groves, provoking him to anger.' There is the same allusion in Matt. xi. 7, where our Saviour says of John the Baptist, that he was not a reed shaken with the wind. There was nothing vacillating or unstable in his character: his mind was constant, and fixed on the truth; and his testimony to the character of the Saviour was always the same.

From Ezek. xl. 3, and Rev. xi. 1, we learn that the long stalk of the reed was used as a measuring-rod; and from Isaiah xlvi. 6, it seems to have been employed as a balance, perhaps after the same. manner as the Roman steel-yard.

In the neighborhood of Suez some of these reeds grow to the height of twelve yards; hence we see how easily, by means of one of them, the soldier who stood at the foot of our Saviour's cross, could raise to his mouth a sponge filled with vinegar, Matt. xxvii. 48.

We must not omit to notice the appropriation of reeds to the purposes of writing, before the invention of our common pens, as there are several allusions to them in the sacred writings, although not discernible in the English Bible.

THE BULRUSH, OR PAPYRUS.

THE bulrush grows in the marshes of Egypt, or in the stagnant places of the Nile, made by the flowing of the river, where they are not above the depth of two cubits. Its roots are tortuous, and in thickness about four or five inches; its stem is triangular, rising to the height of ten cubits, and terminating in a crown of small filaments resembling hair, which the ancients used to compare to a thyrsus.

The papyri were produced in such great quantities on the banks of the Nile, that Cassiodorus compares them to a forest. "There rises to the view this forest without branches, this thicket without leaves, this harvest of the waters, this ornament of the marshes.'

This reed was of the greatest use to the inhabitants of the country where it grew; the pith contained in the stalk served them for food, and the woody part for the construction of vessels. For this purpose they made it up, like rushes, into bundles, and by tying these together, they gave to their vessels the necessary shape and solidity. The vessels of bulrushes (Isa. xviii. 2,) or papyri, mentioned in sacred and profane history, says Dr. Shaw, were no other than large fabrics of the same kind with that of Moses (Exodus ii. 3,) which from a late introduction of plank and stronger materials, are now laid aside. Thus, Pliny notices 'ships made of papyrus and the equipments of the Nile; and in another place he says, 'Of the papyrus itself they construct sailing vessels.'

The most useful and valuable part of the papyrus, however, was its delicate rind or bark, which was used for the purpose of writing upon. To prepare it for this, the several coatings of which the stem is composed were carefully separated and spread out upon a table, artfully matched and pressed together, and moistened with the water of the Nile, which, dissolving the glutinous juices of the plant, caused them to adhere closely together. They were afterwards pressed, and then dried in the sun; and thus were rendered fit for writing upon, in characters marked by a colored liquid passing through a hollow reed.

These vegetables require much water for their growth; when, therefore, the river on whose banks they grow, is reduced, they perish sooner than other plants. This explains Job viii. 11, where the circumstance is referred to as an image of transient prosperity: 'Can the paper reed grow up without ooze? Can the bulrush grow up without water.'

The papyrus being an esculent plant, there was nothing extraordinary in its being eaten, as intimated in Jeremiah xv. 16; Ezekiel iii. 1; and Revelation x. 10.