expressing the fiery persecutions to which Christians would be exposed. A second is, that was, every one, respects all Christians, whether persecuted or not; and that the sense is, every true believer is purified by the afflictions and trials of life, in the same manner (kai being used for us) as every sacrifice is salted with salt. A third is, that believers were to be salted or prepared by the apostles, for the fire of God's altar, (up being here taken in the dative case,) that is, to become through their ministry a holy sacrifice to God. A fourth urges, that yap connects the words chiefly with the preceding verse, and therefore, that the words salted with fire can refer only to the wicked, to them whose "worm dieth not," &c.; yap, for every one of these shall be salted with fire; as if it had been, was γαρ αυτών. In this case, the idea of endless torments suggested by the unquenchable fire of the preceding verse is supposed to be carried on and heightened by the strong figure of being salted, that is, seasoned with fire itself, so as to be rendered inconsumable by it. The fifth view, and that which has been perhaps most generally received, regards the two clauses of the verse as standing in opposition to each other; the first expressing the fearful doom of the wicked as victims to divine justice, to be salted with fire, which shall endure for ever; but every acceptable sacrifice,-under which real Christians are supposed to be represented, -as being salted with another kind of salt, namely, the divine grace, which purifies the soul. These are all the opinions on this subject worth noticing, the others being either modifications of some one of these, or founded upon emendatory and uncertain criticism.

For the true interpretation of this passage it is to be remarked, that the discourse was addressed to the apostles alone. Our Lord had reproved them for their ambition, by setting a child in the midst, and taking him in his arms in token of his special regard; he had further declared his affection to such of his childlike followers, by assuring them, that whoso received one of such chil

dren received him; he had reproved John for forbidding a good man who followed not with them, from casting out devils in his name; he had, in returning from this digression to the former subject, declared that the most severe punishment would follow the offending, or making to stumble, one of these little ones that believe in me; having guarded others against offending, or causing to stumble and fall, the least of his disciples, he warns the apostles lest they should be stumbling-blocks to themselves, enjoining upon them the utmost purity, exhorting them to renounce every sin, by entire and rigid self-mortification, which he compares to the cutting off a hand or a foot, or the plucking out of an eye; and this entire renunciation of evil, this universal purity, he enforces upon them by the awful doctrine, that, failing of it, they could not enter into life, but should inevitably be cast into unquenchable fire. But in what follows he continues the same address to the apostles, and still enforces the same subject, their entire purification from sin to God, which he illustrates from the offering of salt with sacrifices. The apostles professed to conSECRATE themselves to Christ, to OFFER themselves to his service; but as under the law all offerings were to be accompanied with salt,—the striking and well understood emblem in eastern countries of SINCERITY and GOOD FAITH in covenant engagements, and hence called in the very passage alluded to, Lev. ii. 13, "the salt of the covenant of thy God,"-so their devoting themselves to Christ demanded that perfect sincerity and purity. which could not consist with the sparing and retaining any sin whatever; and the sincerity and good faith with which they renounced all sin was as the offering of salt with the sacrifice. This appears to be the connexion; and the particle yap must therefore be considered as connecting these words, not with the verse next preceding, but with the whole argument of the preceding verses; and the was is to be applied to every one of the apostles: for, that in the first instance they are spoken and that the salting refers to the

operation of divine grace in them, is made plain by what follows, Salt is good; where our Lord means the very salt of which he had before been speaking, that with which every sacrifice should be salted. To which he also adds, Have salt in yourselves, and, with reference to their dispute which should be greatest, have peace one with another. So clear is it, that, throughout the whole of this disputed passage, the apostles were addressed, and they first and chiefly, whatever lessons may be consequentially taught by it to ministers and Christians generally; and if so, then the only point to be considered is, whether the first clause, for every one shall be salted with fire, may not refer to the punishment of a false apostle, or a bad minister, although the next clause, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt, must be considered as a figurative application of the rites of ancient sacrifice, to express the entire consecration of the faithful disciples to Christ, as by a covenant of salt." On this question it may be observed, that the neverending punishment of the faithless had been with such reiteration, explicitness, and emphasis already three times, or rather six times, uttered in the preceding verses, that it is improbable that the same subject should be again stated in the garb of metaphor, as being "salted with fire." 2. That to suppose our Lord, in the same verse, to speak of being salted with the fire of hell, and salted with divine grace, is an exceedingly harsh interpretation for although he often uses the same terms in a sentence, or in successive sentences, in different or even contrasted senses, yet there is always some observable relation of degree or contrariety arising out of the terms or the nature of the subject; but here no such relation appears, and we shall not find an instance of such a use of words by our Lord in senses so violently different and disconnected. But, 3. The terms being all manifestly sacrificial, an easy interpretation is afforded to the whole, without supposing any such violent transition in the meaning of the terms used: For every one shall be salted, by an entire integrity

and sincerity, WITH THE FIRE of that altar on which you devote yourselves, as every sacrifice in the temple shall be salted with salt, the emblem of the sincerity and integrity in which it is offered. Here Tup is taken in the dative case, as 2 Pet. iii. 7, πupl τnpoμevoi, reserved for the fire; and a takes the sense of ws, which is not unfrequent.

At the same time, the order in which these distinct ideas rose in the mind of our Lord may be probably traced. The "unquenchable fire" of hell, of which he had been just speaking, might easily associate itself with another unquenchable fire, that which was kept ever burning through all generations on the altar of burnt offering in the temple. Still further, the punishment of wicked apostate Christians might naturally be considered as the immolation of victims to divine justice, and forcibly suggest the striking contrast of that great act of grace by which true apostles and disciples were allowed to offer themselves to God upon the altar of the Christian temple, and to present themselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, to God; but the acceptableness of which depends, as in the ancient offerings, upon the salt offered with it, that is, upon the entire simplicity and fidelity with which we give our whole selves to Christ and to his service, making no reserves and tolerating no sin. In this way, indeed, the admonitory contrast, so forcibly dwelt upon by some commentators, is brought out and impressed upon us; not by separating the two clauses of verse 46 into distinct and opposite senses, but by opposing the fake disciple who refuses to cut off his right hand, or foot, or eye, that is, wholly and universally to mortify his corruptions, and is cast into hell, a victim to incensed and eternal justice; and the faithful dis ciple, he who enters into "a covenant of salt" with Christ, that is, who engages himself to him in purity and fidelity, and who is offered upon the altar, a sacrifer of sweet-smelling savour, in all he thirk and speaks and does, "acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." In this view, È is very true, that we must be sacrifice