the teachings of phrenology. "The diversities of doctrine in religion," says Mr. Combe, "owe their origin to ignorance of the primitive faculties and their relations. The faculties differ in strength in different individuals, and each person is most alive to objects and views connected with the powers predominant in himself. Hence, in reading the Scriptures, one person is convinced that they establish Calvinism; another, possessing a different combination of faculties, discovers in them Lutheranism; while a third is satisfied that Socinianism is the only true interpretation."

In reply to all this, we have only to ask: Is there not such a thing as revealed truth? Is not this truth one and immutable? Are not those who read the Bible bound to receive it, and obey it? And does not this imply that they are capable of learning what it is?

He

In the Scriptures, the preaching of the Gospel is represented. as the grand means of enlightening and recovering lost men. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” But Mr. Combe does not think much of preaching the Gospel. would prefer to have men instructed about their organs and facul ties, and the laws of their physical and moral being. "Divines should introduce the natural laws into their discourses, and teach people the works and institutions of the Creator." They should not "represent Christianity as a system of spiritual influences, of internal operations on the soul, and of repentant preparation for another life," but rather as an "exposition of pure and lofty principles, addressed to responding faculties in human nature itself, and therefore capable of being applied in this world." But how much good does Mr. Combe think such preaching would do, in a world like this? How much has it done? Who ever heard of a revival of religion, or of individual conversions, under a phrenological lecture? Nations have often been civi lized and Christianized some in our own times. under the influence of the Gospel. Has such a thing ever occurred under the influence of phrenology? Men may preach about organs, and faculties, and physical laws, and constitutional propensities, as long as they please, and those who listen to them will wax worse and worse. It is the Gospel, and that alone, which, under God, subdues the heart, reforms the life, and prepares the recov⚫ VOL. XL No. 41.

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ered soul for usefulness and heaven; and all this has been proved, by actual experiment, a thousand times over.

We are taught in the Scriptures that the Gospel is adapted to the wants of all men, publicans, magdalens, harlots, the poor, the degraded, the vicious, drawn from the highways and hedges of the world; none are too low to be reached by those influences which are provided and proffered in the Gospel of Christ. But this precious, glorious feature of the Gospel, like many others, is contradicted by phrenology. This teaches that men, with a certain class of heads, are impracticable, incurable. They are beyond the reach of moral means, and the power of Gospel truth. Take, for example, such a head as that of Pope Alexander VI., which Mr. Combe says "is no more adequate to the manifestation of Christian virtues than is the brain of an idiot" for high intellectual pursuits; or such a head as that given in Fowler's Journal, which the writer tells us "will be sensual in love, ferocious in disposition, a glutton in appetite; a natural vagabond, open to all the excitements to low and vulgar criminality; a being who, for the sake of society, should be guarded by law, as we would a lunatic." The difficulty with such characters, it must be borne in mind, is not primarily in their depraved dispositions. If this were all, the influences of the Gospel might recover and save them. But the root of the difficulty, on phrenological principles, lies further back. It is in the shape of their heads; the conformation of their brains; and how is the Gospel to reach and transform these? What adaptedness is there in moral means of any kind to the accomplishment of such an end? Obviously, none at all. The work is impossible, except to the direct interposition of miraculous power; and the representation of Scripture, that the Gospel is suited to the necessities of all men, however low, degraded and vicious, is flatly contradicted.

The Bible has much to say on the efficacy of prayer. It assures us, that, when God's people cry to him for mercy, he hears and answers them. Abraham interceded for Lot, and Lot was delivered. Elijah prayed for rain, and the rain came. "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." But Mr. Combe has no confidence in the power of prayer to affect the issue of events. It may do good to the suppliant. It may have a favorable influence upon his mind and heart. But that it has any power and influence with God, is

wholly incredible. Now we admit that prayer does have a favorable influence upon the mind and heart of the suppliant. No doubt of it. But is this the great benefit of prayer? Is this the main object and end of it, as set forth in the Scriptures? Who believes that the main object of Elijah, in praying for rain, was not to secure the blessing of rain, but to promote his own piety and spiritual improvement? Besides; how long would prayer be offered, and its good influences upon the suppliant be realized, if no other object were aimed at? How long should we continue to pray, if we believed that to petition God was but a formfallacious, but yet wholesome-of preaching to ourselves, and promoting our own growth in grace?

We mention but another instance in which the teachings of phrenology seem to us to conflict with the Bible. The Scriptares assert that the soul of man is to exist, to be intelligent, conscious and active, while the body is in the grave. Paul expected, while “absent from the body, to be present with the Lord." He tells us that, in the heavenly Jerusalem, dwell "the spirits of just men made perfect." In the visions of Patmos, John saw them there. He beheld their glory, and listened to their songs. But if the whole man is matter, as some phrenologists pretend, then there is no soul to exist while separate from the body. We are all body, and the whole man sleeps together in the dust. Or, if we adopt the opinion of the better class of phrenologists, that, though there is a mind distinct from the body, yet that the brain is the indispensable organ of the mind, without which it cannot think, or feel, or do anything; then, when the brain is dead, must not the mind be dead with it? At least, must not all mental activity cease, and the soul pass into a state of entire unconsciousness?

We see not how such an inference is to be avoided, unless we say, with some, that, when the soul leaves this gross body, it enters at once into a spiritual body, rises in it at death, and that this is all the resurrection which is to be expected. But this again is to contradict the Bible, and that in two respects. First, the Bible teaches, that the same body which is laid in the dust is to be raised in the resurrection. The same it which “is sown in corruption, is to be raised in incorruption;" which "is sown in weakness, is to be raised in power;" which "is sown a natural body, is to be raised a spiritual body." The Bible also teaches, that this resurrection is to be accomplished, not in the

"This is

moment of death, but in the morning of the last day. the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."

We here take our leave of the subject of phrenology; having looked at it in various lights, and treated it as largely as time and opportunity will permit. We have shown, first of all, that its fundamental principles are not to be relied upon. They are not supported by appropriate evidence; they are without foundation. We have traced the subject, also, in its social and practical, its moral and religious bearings, and have shown that it is of hurtful tendency in them all. It can never be reconciled with the Bible, or with the best interests of society, more than it can with phy. siology and the facts of science.

In view of all that has been said, we wonder not that phrenology is a favorite subject with innovators, sceptics, radicals and infidels. We wonder not that such men extol it, lecture upon it, make and read its books, and do all in their power to propagate it through the land. This is acting in character. It is just what might be expected of them. But we do wonder that intelligent Christians, members of our churches, who love and honor the Bible, and try to obey it, should be found in such company. We do wonder that such persons should countenance and uphold a system, which conflicts with the Gospel at almost every point, and which, could it have full scope in the earth, would shut the Gospel out of it, and keep it out forever.

ARTICLE III.

EXCURSION TO THE SUMMIT OF HERMON.

By Rev. J. L. Porter, Missionary at Damascus.

August 30th, 1852. We left Blûdân1 at 6h. 40m. A. M., descended the hill on the ordinary Damascus road, and crossed the beautiful plain of Zebedâny to the fountain of the Barada. We rode at a fast walk and reached the little lake at 8.30. Having lingered here ten minutes, chasing the numerous wildfowl that were skimming over the surface of the water, we remounted and ascended the rugged and barren slopes to Batrûny, where we arrived at 9.30. From Batrûny we followed the road along the foot of the rocky hill toward the eastern entrance of Wady elKürn; but when, within about one mile of the Wady, we turned to the right, and ascended the mountain by a rugged path. At 10.30 we were on the summit, and had a commanding view of the Alpine scenery around us, with the plains stretching out in the distance. The mountain range, on the top of which we now stood, extends unbroken from Wady el-Kurn to Wady Yahfûfeh, forming the western boundary of the plains of Zebedâny and Súrghâya. Its direction is about N. 25 E. Its greatest elevation is nearly 6000 feet above the sea. From Zebedâny to Wady el-Kurn, the sides are rocky and very rugged, and the top broken and jagged; the northern portion is not so lofty and the sides have a gradual slope to the plains on the east. The elevation decreases gradually toward Wady Yahfüfch; and at the place where Wady el-Kurn cuts through, it is also somewhat lower. Southward of the latter Wady the ridge extends, but broken and to some extent irregular, to Râsheiya.

We have seen no map, and we believe none has yet appeared, on which the Antilebanon range has been laid down with any approach to accuracy, Berghaus places the loftiest ridge on the western side of the plain of Zebedâny, and continues it northward in a straight unbroken line. Now the fact is, that about one hour north of Wady Yahfûfeh, there are no mountains whatever

1 Blûdân is the summer residence of the missionaries at Damascus. It lies on the high ridge east of the plain of Zebedâny.-E. R.