and to translate them by the same word. The authors of the Vulgate, in particular, have almost always employed sanctus in expounding both. This has misled most modern interpreters in the west. As to our own translators, the example has doubtless had some influence. Nevertheless, they have in this not so implicitly followed the Vulgate in their version of the Old Testament, as in that of the New. Let it be premised, that the significations of words in any nation, do not remain invariably the same. In a course of years much fewer than two thousand, which are reckoned to have elapsed from the commencement to the finishing of the sacred canon, very considerable changes happen in the meanings of words in the same language, and among the same people. Now, to trace the gradations and nicer shades of meaning which distinguish different periods, is one of the most difficult, but most important tasks of criticism.

9. In regard to the word kadosh, hagios, I acknowledge that it does not seem to me to have had originally any relation to character or morals. Its primitive signification appears to have been clean-first, in the literal sense, as denoting free from all filth, dirt, or nastiness; secondly, as expressing what, according to the religious ritual, was accounted clean. The first is natural, the second ceremonial cleanness. Some traces of the first of these meanings we have in the Old Testament, but nothing is more common there than the second, particularly in the Pentateuch. Again, as things are made clean to prepare them for being used, (and the more important the use, the more carefully they are cleaned,) the term has been adopted to denote, thirdly, prepared, fitted, destined for a particular purpose, of what kind soever the purpose be: fourthly, and more especially, consecrated, or devoted to a religious use: fifthly, as things so prepared and devoted, are treated with peculiar care and attention, to hallow or sanctify comes to signify to honour, to reverence, to stand in awe of; and holy, to imply worthy of this treatment, that is, honourable, venerable, awful: sixthly, and lastly, as outward and corporeal cleanness has, in all ages and languages, been considered as an apt metaphor for moral purity, it denotes guiltless, irreproachable, which is at present among Christians the most common acceptation of the word.

10. I shall give an example or two of each of the six uses aforesaid, not confining myself to the adjective kadosh, but including its conjugates of the same root. First, that it denotes clean, in the vulgar acceptation, is manifest from the precept given to Israel in the desert, to be careful to keep the camp free from all ordure.* The reason assigned is in these words: "For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, therefore shall thy camp be holy," M Kaι ƐσTαι аyiα, "that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee."

* See the whole passage, Deut. xxiii, 12, 13, 14.

Another remarkable example of this meaning we have in the history of king Hezekiah, who is said (2 Chron. xxix. 5, &c.) to have given orders to the Levites to sanctify the house of the Lord; the import of which order is explained by the words immediately following, and "carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place." The sacred service had, in the reign of the impious Ahaz, been for a long time totally neglected; the lamps were gone out, and the fire extinguished on the altars both of burntofferings and of incense; nay, and the temple itself had at length been absolutely deserted and shut up. The king, intending to restore the religious worship of Jehovah to its former splendour, saw that the first thing necessary was to make clean the house, with all its furniture, that they might be fit for the service. Frequent mention is made of this cleansing in the chapter above referred to, where it is sometimes called cleansing, 2 Chron. xxix. 15, 16, 18, sometimes sanctifying, ver. 5, 17, 19; the Hebrew verbs tahar, and p kadash, being manifestly, through the whole chapter, used indiscriminately. Both words are accordingly, in this passage, rendered by the Seventy indifferently ἁγνιζειν and καθαρίζειν, not ἁγιαζειν ; in the Vulgate mundare, ex piare, and once sanctificare. In both the above examples the word holy is evidently the opposite of dirty, nasty, filthy, in the current acceptation of the terms. This, as being the simplest and most obvious, is probably the primitive sense. Things sensible first had names in every language: the names were afterward extended to things conceivable and intellectual. This is according to the natural progress of knowledge.

ness.

11. From this first signification, the transition is easy to that which, in the eye of the ceremonial law, is clean. One great purpose of that law, though neither the only nor the chief purpose, is to draw respect to the religious service, by guarding against every-thing that might savour of indecency or uncleanliThe climate, as well as the nature of their service, rendered this more necessary than we are apt to imagine. Any thing which could serve as a security against infectious disorders in their public assemblies, whereof, as they lived in a hot climate, they were in much greater danger than we are, was a matter of the highest importance. Now, when once a fence is established by statute, it is necessary, in order to support its authority, that the letter of the statute should be the rule in all cases. Hence it will happen, that there may be a defilement in the eye of the law, where there is no natural foulness at all. This I call ceremonial uncleanness, to express the reverse of which, the term holy is fre quently employed. Thus, by avoiding to eat what was accounted unclean food, they sanctified themselves, Lev. xi. 42, &c.; xx. 25, 26: they were likewise kept holy by avoiding the touch of dead bodies, to avoid which was particularly required of the priests, except in certain cases, they being obliged, by their ministry, to

be holier than others, ch. xxi. 1-6. Moses is said (Exod. xix. 10, 14, 22,) to sanctify the people by making them wash their clothes, and go through the legal ceremonies of purification. Nor is it possible to doubt, that when men were ordered to sanctify themselves directly for a particular occasion, they were enjoined the immediate performance of something which could be visibly and quickly executed, and not the acquisition of a character, which is certainly not the work of an hour or of a day. Thus the priests were to sanctify themselves before they approached the Lord on Sinai; and thus the people were commanded by Joshua to sanctify themselves in the evening, that they might be prepared for seeing the wonders which God was to perform among them next day, Josh. iii. 5. In the same sense Joshua also is said to sanctify the people, ch. vii. 13. In this sense we are also to understand what we are told of those who sanctified themselves for the observance of that great passover which Hezekiah caused to be celebrated. What is termed sanctifying in one verse, is cleansing in another, 2 Chron. xxx. 17, 18. To prevent being tedious, I do not repeat the whole passages, but refer to them: the reader may consult them at his leisure.

Even in the New Testament, where the word is not so frequently used in the ceremonial sense, holy and unclean, ayios and aка aρтоç, are contrasted as natural opposites; 1 Cor. vii. 14. In one place in the Old Testament, (Numb. v. 17,) the Seventy have rendered the word kadosh, kadaρoç, as entirely equivalent, calling that pure or clean water, which in Hebrew is holy water; and oftener than once, in the Targums or Chaldee paraphrases, the Hebrew kadosh is rendered by their common term for clean. Thus, in that passage of the prophet, (Isa. lxv. 5,) "Stand by thyself; come not near me, for I am holier than thou," the last clause is in Chaldee, "I am cleaner than thou."

12. In regard to the third sense, separated or prepared for a special purpose, there are several examples. The appointing of places for cities of refuge is, both in the original and in the Septuagint, called sanctifying them, Josh. xx. 7. To make ready for war is, in several places, to sanctify war; Jer. vi. 4; Mic. iii. 5. In such places, however, the Seventy have not imitated the Hebrew penmen, probably thinking it too great a stretch for the Greek language to employ ayaw in this manner. In one place (Jer. xii. 3,) men are said to be sanctified for destruction, that is, devoted or prepared for it. To devote to a bad, even to an idolatrous use, is called to sanctify. Thus, both in Hebrew and in Greek, Micah's mother is said to sanctify the silver which she had devoted for making an idol for her and her family to worship, Judg. xvii. 3. From this application probably has sprung such anomalous productions as TP kedeshah, a prostitute, and Op kedeshim, sodomites. Nor is this so strange as it may at first appear. Similar examples may be found in most tongues.

The Latin sacer, which commonly signifies sacred, holy, venerable, sometimes denotes the contrary, and is equivalent to scelestus. Auri sacra fames, the execrable thirst of gold.

13. The fourth meaning mentioned was, devoted to a religious or pious use. Thus Jeremiah (ch. i. 5) was sanctified from the womb, in being ordained a prophet unto the nations: the priests and the Levites were sanctified or consecrated for their respective sacred offices. It were losing time to produce examples of an use so frequently to be met with in Scripture, and almost in every page of the Books of Moses. In this sense (for it admits degrees) the Jewish nation was called holy, they being consecrated to God by circumcision, the seal of his covenant; in this sense also, all who profess Christianity are denominated saints, having been dedicated to God in their baptism.

14. Of the fifth meaning, according to which, to hallow or sanctify denotes to respect, to honour, to venerate; and holy denotes respectable, honourable, venerable: we have many examples. Thus, to hallow God is opposed to profaning his name, Lev. xxii. 32, that is, to treating him with irreverence and disrespect. It is opposed also to the display of a want of confidence in his power, and in his promise, Numb. xx. 12. It is in this meaning the word is used when we are required to sanctify the Sabbath, that is, to treat it with respect; and are commanded to pray that God's name may be hallowed, that is, honoured, revered. It is in this meaning chiefly that the word seems in a lower degree applied to angels, and in the highest, to the Lord of heaven and earth.

There are some things which incline me to conclude that this is more properly the import of the word, at least in the application to God, than, as is commonly supposed, moral excellence in general. Doubtless, both the moral, and what are called the natural attributes of God, may be considered as in some respect included, being the foundations of that profound reverence with which he ought ever to be mentioned, and more especially addressed by mortals. But it is worthy of our notice, that when the term holy is applied to God, and accompanied with other attributives, they are such as infuse fear rather than love, and suggest ideas of vengeance rather than of grace. When Joshua found it necessary to alarm the fears of an inconsiderate nation, he told them, "Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God, he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions and sins," Josh. xxiv. 19. Again, this epithet holy is more frequently than any other applied to God's name. Now, if we consider what other epithets are thus applied in Scripture, we shall find that they are not those which express any natural or moral qualities abstractedly considered-they are not the names of essential attributes, but such only as suggest the sentiments of awe and reverence with which he ought to be regarded by every reason

able creature. No mention is made of God's wise name, powerful name or true name, good name or merciful name, faithful name or righteous name; yet all these qualities, wisdom, power, truth, goodness, mercy, faithfulness, and righteousness, are in numberless instances ascribed to God, as the eternal and immutable perfections of his nature: but there is mention of his fearful name, his glorious name, his great name, his reverend name, and his excellent name, sometimes even of his dreadful name, but oftenest of his holy name; for all these terms are comparative, and bear an immediate reference to the sentiments of the humble worshipper. Nay, as the epithet holy is often found in conjunction with some of the others above-mentioned, which admit this application, they serve to explain it. Thus the Psalmist, (xcix. 3.) "Let them praise thy great and terrible name, for it is holy:" again, (cxi. 9,) "Holy and reverend is his name."

What was the display which Jehovah made to the Philistines, when his ark was in their possession; a display which extorted from them the acknowledgment that the God of Israel is a holy God, before whom they could not stand? It was solely of sovereignty and uncontrollable power in the destruction of their idol god Dagon, and great numbers of the people. This filled them with such terror at the bare sight of the ark, the symbol of God's presence, as was too much for them to bear. And indeed both the Greek άyios and the Latin sanctus admit the same meaning, and are often equivalent to augustus, venerandus. The former term, augustus, Castalio has frequently, and not improperly, adopted in his version, when the Hebrew word kadosh is applied to God. The change of the epithet sanctus is not necessary; but if perspicuity be thought in a particular case to require it, I should prefer the latter term venerandus, as more expressive of religious awe. Further, when the term holy is ascribed by angels to God, we find it accompanied with such words or gestures as are expressive of the profoundest awe and

veneration.

The description, action, and exclamation of the seraphim in Isaiah, lead our thoughts more to the ideas of majesty and transcendent glory than to those of a moral nature: "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lofty, and his train filled the temple: Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah the God of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. And the pillars of the porch were shaken by the voice of him that cried; and the house was filled with smoke," Isa. vi. 1, &c. Every thing in this description is awful and majestic. That he is the Lord of Hosts who dwelleth on high, in whose august presence even the seraphim must veil their faces, and that the whole earth is full of his glory, are intro