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25.

Curst be their anger, for it knew no bound;
Their passion gave an unrelenting wound!
Yet shall their race remain among my heirs,
A part, tho' not a birthright, shall be theirs ;
In Jacob's lot shall each a portion know,
Their seed 'midst Israel's favour'd tribes o'erflow.

JUDAH, thy name is Praise ! thy brethren join
To hail thee Father of the Royal Line!

The necks of all thy foes thy hands shall press;
30. Thee with respect thy father's sons address.
Just as his prey the youthful lion rends,
So from the spoil my victor son ascends!
The couchant lion thus secure may lie,
Who dares the suckling lioness defy?

35. He that would steal her new-born whelps away,
Shall make his forfeit life her instant prey.

. The sceptre shall remain in Judah's hand,
And still his legislative pow'r shall stand

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Till SHILOH come: that prosp'rous, peaceful One.
40. Convenes obedient nations round his throne!
Bound to the vine shall he his foal contine,
His ass's coit shall browse the choicest vine;
The luscious clusters yield a purple flood,
And soak his raiment with their richest blood:
45. His sparkling eyes the generous beverage shew;
His teeth retain a more than milk-white hue.

Thou, ZEBULUN, shalt reach from sea to sea,
Commerce and fishing thine employ shall be:
Like Zidon situate thy western side;

50. Ships in thy friendly ports shall safely ride.

While ISSACHAR, endued with strength of bone,
His heavy panniers bears without a groan :
Rest his chief good, and pleasant is the land,
This boon enjoy'd, let whoso will command.
55. Inur'd to bear, his. shoulders shall refuse
No ruler's laws, nor tributary dues.

DAN, tho' but small, a tribe distinct shall be ;---
'Midst Israel's rulers he his Judge shall see.

Line 12. Mekerotheihem, their fraudulent contracts (see Venema's Dissertations, vol. i. 226). Macar, which in Hebrew denotes he sold, in Arabic signifies to beguile, and in Syriac to espouse.

Line 20. Ikkeru shor. James Robertson's Translation seems much preferable to ours, and still more so to the Seventy; not they dug down a wall,' much less they houghed an ox,' but thus:

For in their anger they slew a man,

And in their self-will they extirpated a prince.

Line 25. Achallekem bejaakob, I will divide them a portion in Jacob,
Va-aphitzem bejisrael, And cause them to overflow in Israel.

So Venema renders it, and includes Reuben in the blessing, as otherwise no blessing at all would have been pronounced on these tribes, contrary to the assertion in ver. 28, that he blessed them, every one according to his blessing.'. Compare Moses's blessing on Reuben (Deut. xxxiii. 6.) and on Levi (v. 8~11.). Line 47. From the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee.

Line 51. Issachar is a strong ass (chamor gerem, an ass of bone).

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Be ASHER blest indeed! with choicest bread
And royal dainties shall his sons be fed.

Let NAPHTALI divine deliverance find,
70. And bound along, a disentangled hind.
His gracious words shall other hearts prepare
To wrestle and prevail in fervent pray'r.

JOSEPH, the son of a most fruitful vine,
Son of that first-lov'd, best-lov'd wife of mine!
75. Tho' long delay'd, her families increase,

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Her branches flourish after her decease.
Near a perennial spring this vine shall grow,
Her fruitfulness shall future ages shew.

Their venom'd shafts the archers thickly shot;
b. Keen were their arrows, but they reach'd him not;
While his own bow shall in full strength abide,
The Mighty One of Jacob on his side.

His arms, his hands, his father's God sustains,
While Israel's Shepherd, Israel's Store remains.
85. From his blest name my son his strength derives,
The all-sufficient God, who ever lives!

90.

Iis aid thou hast experienc'd oft, and still
Thy cup with blessings shall Jehovah fill:

Blessings from Heaven above to thee shall flow,
And blessings from the deep that lies below:
The blessings of the breast and of the womb
Shall be thy lot, when I am in my tomb:
The blessings of thy father shall exceed
All that his ancestors foretold their seed.
95 High as th' eternal hills these blessings rise,
Wide as the earth, and lasting as the skies!
On Joseph's head shall every good descend,
On him once banish'd far from every friend!

Fierce as a wolf shall BENJAMIN prepare,
Ico. With hostile troops, to wage successful war!
Ile in the morning shall his prey devour,

The spoil dividing at the ev`ning hour!

Line 22. Joseph is the son of a fruitful vine (ben porath). This seems to refer to Rachel, who, though she was long barren, and left but two sons, yet had two tribes, which sprang from her grandsons, and very large ones, especially that of Ephraim, as Jacób had already predicted (Gen. xlviii. 16. 19, and Deut. xxxiii. 17.). I wonder so natural an idea, which must affect the tenderest feelings of the Patriarch's heart, has not been noticed before. Psalm cxxviii. 3.

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Line 85. The Samaritan and Syriac both read' Mishem, from the name,' instead of Misham, from thence' (see Psalm xx. 1, 5, 7). This agrees also with the preceding and following clause.

Fidei abir Jaakob,

Fishem Roch eben Jisrael, ble-El abica vejazereca, &c.

From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob.
From the name of the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel.
From the God of thy Father, and he shall bless
thee, &c.

Line 94. I have introduced a reference to his ancestors; but I suspect the true reading is, Al bircoth harei ad (or harrei ad)

Ta-avath gibeoth olam ;

and not Al bircoth horai,

Ad ta avath gibeoth olam.

Sce Deut. xxxiii. 15, and Habak. iii. 6. In the former, harrei kedem: and in the latter, harrei ad occurs in the first clause, to correspond with gibeoth olam, in the following line.

Printed by G. AULD, Greville Street, London.

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TO THE

EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE

FOR THE YEAR 1809.

MEMOIR

OF

MR. ROBERT PRINGLE.

MR ROBERT PRINGLE, the subject of this Memoir, died September 20, 1806, in the 89th year of his age, having been upwards of 41 years an Elder of the Associate Congregation at Newcastle upon Tyne.. He was a native of North Britain; and was born May 31, 1712, at St. Andrew's, Fifeshire. At what age his acquaintance with the power of religion commenced I cannot say; but various circumstances concur to fix its date at an early period of his life. At the commencement of the Secession, being then 24 years old, he espoused its cause; and in him it experienced an intelligent, warm, and constant friend. With singular pleasure he often described the delightful seasons of gospel administration in the early period of the Secession. Instead of houses to worship in, the circumstances of the times now and then obliged them to repair to the fields. Here, with patience and delight, they sat, and heard the good tidings of great joy,' and not unfrequently on benches formed by the drifted snow. Often, especially in his later years, did he speak of the days of power which then were felt, of the rich effusions of the Holy Spirit which then were experienced, and the astonishing displays of grace which then were seen.

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In the year 1750, he removed with his family to South Shields and was an active instrument in forming a church at Newcastle, a few miles distant. As an elder in that church, he was truly exemplary. Faithful in visiting the sick (a work which many in the office he held do not consider as a branch of their duty) and skilled in the word of life, he knew how to declare the threatenings of the law to the secure, and to administer the consolations of the gospel to the broken-hearted. He possessed a noble mind, a mind that was scarcely ever moved by man; yet he was far from being stern or morose. Hi countenance was mild, serene, and engaging. The placid and virtuous disposition which held the empire of his bosom,

XVIL.

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