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displayed at this hour! What! were not 600,000 fighting men a good army, and equal to any enterprize? Had they been only courageous and determined, what could resist them? And had not God promised to be with them, "to send his fear," and to destroy the people" before them?" If human power was weak, Divine power was surely resistless. But no: the people wept all that night; and said, Would God we had died in Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!" They proposed to make themselves a captain, and return to Egypt. Moses and Aaron fell down before the people, and Caleb and Joshua rent their clothes and entreated them, but all in vain. They even went so far, for cruelty and cowardice often go together, as to purpose to stone Moses their leader. God then interposed--but Moses pleaded for the people. The glory of God was displayed before them: and then went forth the awful decree, that the carcasses of all this multitude should fall in the wilderness, and that their children, whom they said would be a prey, should afterwards possess it. All that were numbered above twenty years old, were doomed to fall, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, of the tribe of Judah; and Joshua, the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. Ten of the spies, who had brought this evil report, were immediately destroyed by Divine judgement, as signal examples of his displeasure.

When the people were told what was the decree of the Most High, they mourned greatly, and they arose in the morning and ascended the mountain, to begin to fight the Amalekites, but Moses told them God would not be with them, and they would be smitten. They, however, proceeded, and were chased, and smitten, and overcome. Their repentance came too late; and their courage, when it was of no avail.

Let us now leave them, for a time, and reflect a little on the various things and events which have passed before us.

1. How costly, superb, and honored, was God's earthly court, even when his people dwelt in tents. The quan tity of gold, silver, and valuable material, employed in the construction of the tabernacle, as we have seen, was immense; though without a more complete survey it will be impos

sible for us to form anything like a correct idea of it. Take as an illustration the following fact. The produce of the assesment, at half a shekel each, was 301,775 shekels; a talent is 3,000 shekels: there were, then, 100 talents, and 1,775 shekels in this contribution. A talent of silver was worth about £343. All these 100 talents were employed as the sockets that were plunged in the ground, to receive the boards and pillars of the sanctuary alone! And the gold employed in the sanctuary could not be less than £300,000 value. What then must be the value of all the rich materials and workmanship employed in constructing this tabernacle for the Most High! It was wise in Jehovah thus to impress on the minds of his people an idea of the grandeur of his own name. But he also honored this place with his presence. There he dwelt, his voice both of judgment and mercy was heard, and his glory revealed. In these respects the tabernacle was a type of that spiritual fabric, his Church, which is "builded together as a habitation of God, through the spirit:" and as Moses was especially enjoined to make all things according to the pattern, so should we be, both in the form and order of our Churches, and in the material that is added to them.

seen:

2. How constantly the idea of atonement was attached to the appointed worship. Every day this was every feast day; and every solemn season. Every error, in individuals, in rulers, in the people, must be expiated by sacrifice. "Without shedding of blood was no remission." This would impress the mind with the evil of sin, and the great purity and majesty of God. And,

3. It is adapted to impress our minds with exalted conceptions of that sacrifice and priesthood, which these sacrifices were intended to typify. That must be an illustrious and important sacrifice which for thousands of years, was thus daily set forth, in sacrifices and offerings to God. And so it is. "It is Christ that died." "He hath loved us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour." The high priest went into the most holy place once every year, not without blood. But Christ our high priest has gone not "into holy places made with hands, the figures of the true; but into

BAPTISM IN ITS MODE AND SUBJECTS. By ALEXANDER CARSON, L. L. D., Minister of the Gospel. London: Houlston and Stoneman, 65, Paternoster Row.

(Continued from page 166.) HAVING thus given a general view of Dr. Carson's volume, we must endeavour to furnish the reader with a few specimens of his arguments. In the first chapter, on the burden of proof, he very ably controverts archbishop Whately's position, "that there is such a presumption in favor of existing institutions and generally received opinions that the burden of proof lies on him who opposes them." Dr. Carson unanswerably

shows on the other hand, that the affirmer is bound to advance proof; as an affirmation can have no validity without proof. He who entertains a doctrine must advance the evidence on which it is established, the objector has only to substantiate his objections. Episcopacy, infant baptism, and all religious rites, must produce their authority from Scripture, or perish with the other human inventions discontinued at the Reformation! These principles Dr. Carson frequently applies to the subject under discussion.

Respecting bapto our author says:"The word bapto, from which is formed baptizo, signifies primarily, to dip, and as a secondary meaning, obviously derived from the primary, it denotes to dye. Every occurrence of the word may be reduced to one or other of these acceptations."

The word baptizo, which is invariably used in the New Testament to designate the ordinance, Dr. Carson shews, never means any thing but to immerse. This fact he establishes by a great variety of quotations from the ancient classics.

"Diodorus Siculus, speaking of the sinking of animals in water, says, that when the water overflows, many of the land animals, immersed in the river, perish.' This also is baptism by immersion. The whole land was overwhelmed with water. This itself, upon a principle before explained, might be called a baptism or immersion in perfect con

*The reader will remember that the Greek word used here, and in all the other instances is precisely the same as that which describes the ordinance in the New Testament.

were

This

"It is true that Jewish immersion and Christian immersion *** are all emblem. atical of purification, or supposed to be effeetive of it. But does this imply that the word by which these purifications designated, must signify purification? is grossly unfounded. Was not circumcision a rite of purification? did the name designate purification? How often must I ask this question? Rites of purification may have names that do not express purification. What does the writer mean by the meaning of a rite being more frequently referred to than its mode, when the rite is mentioned? Can this say any thing with respect to its name? And is not its mode an essential part of the meaning of the rite? If a rite has a name from mode, can it be spoken of as to its meaning, without indication of mode?" p. 304.

Relative to the subjects of baptism Dr. Carson says:

"If our minds were uninfluenced by prejudice, this inquiry would not be tedious. We have the answer obviously in the words of the apostolical commission, 'Go ye therefore,' &c. Our opponents affect to treat this passage as not at all to the purpose, alleging, that, though it commands believers to be baptized, it does not exclude the infants of believers. They consider this as common ground, and as teaching a doctrine which they do not deny, without opposing the peculiar doctrine which they hold. Accordingly, they run over this commission with the greatest apparent ease, and are amazed at the want of perspicacity in their opponents, who see in it any thing unfavorable to the baptism of infants. Now this evidence strikes me in so very different a light, that I am willing to hang the whole controversy on this passage. If I had not another passage in

the Word of God, I would engage to refute my opponents from the words of this commission alone. I will risk the credit of my understanding, on my success in shewing, that, according to this commission, believers only are to be baptized." pp. 169, 170.

In relation to the alleged improbabilities and difficulties of immersion we have the following remarks:

"The difficulties and improbabilities are all grounded on superstitious views of the ordinance. The performance of baptism is not confined to office; this is the mummery of Babylon. In baptizing the three thousand on the day of Pentecost, I will trouble neither the twelve nor the seventy, if they have more important work. But he (Dr. Miller) has another difficulty as to the water. I can do miracles about the water, I will make the word find it for me, even in the deserts of Arabia, if it is asserted that there was a baptism there. This writer, like our opponents in general, mistakes the burden of proof. It does not lie on us to show that there is any evidence, except the evidence implied in the word. Many writers on our side have shown that there is independent evidence of the sufficiency of water in Jerusalem. This is highly useful, with a view of putting obstinacy to the blush; but it is not necessary to prove the fact by direct evidence in any instance. I trample on such objections. If it is asserted by credible testimony, that a man was shot, are you to refuse belief unless you are informed where the powder and ball were purchased in order to kill him." pp. 370, 371.

Our limits forbid any further extracts. We most cordially recommend the work to our readers, but would beg leave to remind them that it must be well and carefully studied before it can be fully appreciated.

We cannot close without expressing our sorrow that Dr. Carson has in the present edition deprived us of the originals of his numerous Greek quotations. This sacrifice he has made in order to accommodate the work to the unlearned reader.

We hope that the wealthy members of our Churches will not only purchase this volume for themselves, but procure it for those who have not the means of buying it. We know of no work at all equal to it. It is replete with sound argumentation, it discovers in every page a thorough knowledge of Inspired Truth, and a profound ac

*The Dr. has given Roman letters instead of Greek.-ED.

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quaintance with the philosophy of language. WHERE IS THE CHAMPION

WHO CAN NOW DEFEND INFANT SPRINKLING?

BIBLICAL RESEARCHES IN PALESTINE, MOUNT SINAI, AND ARABIA PETRÆ. A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. By E. ROBINSON and E. SMITH. Undertaken in reference to Biblical Geography. 3 Vols., octavo. Murray, Albermarle Street.

In an age of reading and of thought, like the present, an age in which traditions are traced up to their sources, and statements are examined to their very foundations, any book, whose object is to develope what had been previously hidden, to pour light upon what had aforetime been obscure, and to determine momentous questions concerning which there had before existed so much diversity of opinion, would be gladly welcomed and diligently studied by the lover of truth. The patronage shown to such a work, by the wise and pious, would be in proportion to to the known importance of the subjects of which it shall treat, the amount of new facts it shall disclose and exhibit, and the degree of obscurity from which it shall rescue other truths of which something was previously known. Assuming the correctness of these statements, we anticipate for the volumes announced at the head of this paper a wide circulation, and an enduring interest. To the lover of Scripture truth, and the student of biblical geography, they will undoubtedly be regarded as an extraordinary treasure. While they must not be supposed to contain all that is excellent in all other publications of the kind, nor all that would under all future researches in those and the adjacent regions be superfluous, they probably contain the results of deeper research, and a larger amount of sound geographical information, than are to be found in any similar book in the language. These volumes do not contain a large amount of what might in strictness be termed the graphic, the picturesque, the poetic, or the sentimental; qualities in which the travels of such as Lamartine abound; and therefore the lover of oriental descriptions might close them with partial disappointment. But if they are not rich in poetry, they are rich in clear and luminous narrative.

They are, in truth, a record of investigations diligently made, of dimensions carefully and scientifically taken, of surveys accurately sketched, of evidences calmly considered, and of facts candidly stated. The writer is an American, and unused to accredit and venerate tradition because it is hoary with age; or, like too many writers on Palestine, to assert an opinion because it had been previously asserted by others. He therefore avoids the convents, where erroneous conjecture has grown into authentic tradition, and where tradition has been handed down through successive ages as undoubted verity, and whence it has been received as historic truth by successive travellers to the Holy Land. With a mind of a high order, comprehensive, calm, independent, desirous of truth wherever he might find it, and well furnished with literary and scientific attainments, specially suited to his purpose; and accompanied by Mr. Smith, who could. speak fluently the modern Arabic, the language of all Syria and Palestine, he visits the districts, the sites, and the ruins, of cities and towns named in the Old Testament, ascertains their relative georgaphical position, examines their construction, ascertains their dimensions, converses with the native Arabs, among whom, from remote ages, the primitive names have been preserved, and, allowing for the variations in the Hebrew and Arabic idioms, finds them to correspond with the terms of the Bible. He not only visits the localities most frequently described by travellers, but passes over many districts of which no previous geographical writer makes any mention whatever, and identifies the sites of cities, mountains, plains, wells, and rivers, with those described, or merely mentioned, in the sacred writings.

The allowed length of this paper will not permit of a minute analysis of the writer's narrative. We shall, therefore, content ourselves with briefly glancing at some of its principal features. In the progress of his journey he visits Athens, where he laments its untilled and desolate plains and mountains, discovering, on every side, the noblest monuments of antiquity in ruins. Here he visits, with other places, the Areopagus, on which Paul preached. From thence he sails to Egypt, among whose ruins he finds many illustrations of

Bible history. From Cairo he passes on to Suez, where he takes great pains to define the position of the ancient Goshen, to determine the point at which the Israelites must have crossed the Red Sea, and to explain the operation of the natural causes by which the miracle of their passage was performed. From Suez he progresses to Sinai, where he spends about eight days in examining its regions, and attempting to show its adaptation to the solemn and awful purpose of giving "the law." His reasonings on this part of his journey are especially worthy of consideration. From thence he travels to Hebron, which place he revisits at subsequent periods, and from thence proceeds to Jerusalem. The general topography of this renowned city he repeatedly and patiently examines. Its mountains, valleys, tombs, its ancient foundations, its present walls, its towers and gates, its springs, fountains, pools, cisterns, reservoirs, and ancient water-courses, are alike the subjects of his scientific and searching investigations.

In the course of these, he discovers the random and reckless manner in which the names of ancient and longforgotten sites are applied to other localities. Among other interesting discoveries, he finds a portion of the foundation and walls of what was evidently the outworks of the temple built by Solomon. Of these ancient remains he says, "Ages upon ages have since rolled away; yet the foundations still endure, and are immovable as at the beginning; nor is there ought in the present physical condition of these remains to prevent them from continuing as long as the world shall last."

From Jerusalem, as a central point, he visits various districts in opposite directions, frequently passing over ground not previously visited by European travellers, and, instead of copying what others have said, examines for himself. His remarks on the cities of Benjamin and Judah, on Carmel, Hermon, Tabor, Gilboa, and Engedi; the Dead Sea, the Jordan, and Jericho; on Sychar, Jacob's Well, Samaria, the Sea of Tiberias, of Nazareth, Bethlehem, of Tyre and Sidon, and many other places of interest, are very pleasing. Of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, not only did he search long, eagerly, and in vain, for their sites and remains, but he tells us;