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tion of himself may well be taken as a description of the whole Bible. It is an earthen vessel containing a treasure of divine light.' But many

are not satisfied until they have proved to themselves that this earthenware is gold. They, like Uzza, are afraid that Omnipotence is not able to preserve the equilibrium of the Ark, unless they stretch forth an arm of flesh for its support. But nothing injures Christianity in the present day more than those human schemes of state-assistance and those human theories of mechanical inspiration which are imagined to supply the necessities of God's weakness.'

IX.

It is the cleansDevils and swine

Baptism is a true symbol of the genius of Christianity. ing principle of society. Sin makes men filthy still.' are closely allied together. The one enters into the other. Religion builds baths and washhouses, fountains and reservoirs. He who saves us says: 'I will, be thou clean.' 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.' 'He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." Cleanliness of body and mind is not next to Godliness it is Godliness. 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins.'

POETRY.

ANTHEM BY NEWMAN HALL, L.L.B., SUNG BY 2,500 PERSONS AT THE WEEKLY MEETING OF THE WORKING CLASSES, AT SURREY CHAPEL, MONDAY, DECEMBER 16TH, 1861.

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SHORT NOTICES OF BOOKS.

The Golden Opportunity, and how to Improve it. Prize Essay on the best mode of infusing a Missionary Spirit into the Education of the Young. Eliot Stock, Paternoster Row. 1861.

This volume owes its existence to the Rev.C.Hodgson, Rector of Bartonle-Street, Yorkshire, who offered prizes of 50l., 20., 107., and 5l., for the best essays on the subject mentioned in the title. The highest prize was gained by the Rev. John Stock, of Devonport, whose essay stands first in the present publication. It is a serious, business-like, well-argued composition -stating a good case in plain English. It proves a prevalent neglect in education, and shows the means of supplying the defect. If childhood and youth were taken more often into the counsels of the church, and imbued with early zeal for the spread of Christianity, there is no doubt that a loud juvenile Hosannah would assist the triumph and the progress of that King

who cometh in meekness to Jerusalem. This is a book which well deserves the attention of parents and Sunday-school teachers, and pre-eminently of the ministers of the Word, who do not give nearly their fair share of attention in preaching to the youthful portion of their auditory.

The Strife of Sects. Simpkin and

Marshall. 1861.

This is the first of a series of 'Tracts for the Thoughtful, on matters relating to the religious condition of the age.' The pamphlet is anonymous, and an anonymous pamphlet is generally destined to an early death. If the authors of such compositions can extract from their disappointment the comfort, that those whom the gods love die young,' well and good, but an author's satisfaction with his own performance, is seldom an adequate consolation under such intellectual bereavement. Knowing of whom thou hast learned them,' is an assistance towards practical moralities not unworthy even of Timothy to remember, nor of St. Paul to remind him. the present instance, the author boldly

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ventures as the anonymous, from confidence in the truth of his principles. He has successfully demonstrated the groundlessness of the greater number of English religious divisions. evidently knows English religious society, with its many sides, uncommonly well, a description of knowledge much rarer than is imagined, for few men have many intimacies in other communions than their own. Those who are agreed walk together.' The disease of sectarianism is ably described. But little is said of the remedy that remedy being nothing less than perfect union with God. Nothing except this can break up the

'Sects.'

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It is to be desired that this deep interior cure had been more fully described. But taken as it stands, the pamphlet deserves very respectful notice. It ought not to die the common death of pamphlets; every page contains able and interesting thoughts on English Church life, and we sincerely

desire its circulation. The discussion of the differences between the Independents and the Baptists is especially worthy of the attention of those two half tribes of Manasseh divided by the Jordan.

Bell

The Post Revival. A word of advice to workers among the poor. and Daldy. London, 1861.

This is another pamphlet of sixteen pages which ought to be rescued from oblivion. It appears to be the work of a clergyman, who desires to reap profit for his people from the revival,' without exactly entering into the movement itself. Seeing that revivals 'cannot be prevented among the lower orders' from time to time, the question seems to be, how can we turn these seasons of excitement to account? and

especially, how shall we most usefully deal with the languid state of mind that usually follows them? The

author does not appear to be much concerned with the people's souls, except in a broad-church benevolent sort of way, desiring that they may all get safe to heaven at last. The name of Christ is not once mentioned

in the composition-a fact which, though not absolutely damnatory, is significant. But in the character of a civilizer, our clergyman shines forth with great brightness. Everything

relating to the physical, intellectual, and moral interests of his flock stirs his zealous affection. You love the man for his good sense and healthy benevolence. He is a thorough fireside pastor of the poor, a department of labour in which many of the clergy of the Church of England offer an excellent example to us. It is in this domestic and social character that our hearts always warm towards the clergy, when, as in this case, they enter into their work clearly from the love of it, and not from ostentation, or rivalry, or priestcraft. No one could have written this pamphlet but a man who thoroughly knows a poor man's heart and home; and it is alive from end to end with good advice, given in detail, as to the most effectual means of improving the health, the knowledge, and the comfort of the poor parishioners. A minister of religion still young, and recently settled in a populous district, would find this word of advice' well deserving of his regard. Not the least of its recommendations is, that it is written in English, a language to which the clergy pay more attention than their 'Nonconformist brethren.' Yes, it does one's heart good to read a few pages of plain, straightforward English, written by a gentleman, and clear from the high polite style of the servant girl who recently put in the corner of her envelope, Emancipated; she meant that being stamped, her letter was free. Geology and the Mosaic Record—their Grand Harmony. James Nisbett, and Co. 1861.

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Here, in the form of a sixpenny pamphlet, containing a lecture delivered before the Mutual Improvement Society of Ham-street, Kent, we have a somewhat novel attempt at solving the problem of Geology and the Bible.' Recognizing the fact that the first two chapters of Genesis contain two distinct records, the author supposes that these are not two dissimilar records of the same creation, but recocds of two distinct creations. The

one creation is the six days' work which is described in the first chapter; the other is the creation of the garden in Eden, with its special trees and beasts, and the formation of Adam, as described in the second chapter. And this view is adopted with all its consequences. The pre-Adamite world, it is alleged, had its pre-Adamite race of human beings. The 'man' who was created on the sixth day, is quite distinct from the 'man' who was formed long years afterwards, and placed in Eden, amidst entirely new species of plants and animals. It is further asserted, that the pre-Adamite race of men were sinless beings, and therefore did not come under the law of death, but were translated from the earth into some higher region of existence. Thus the absence of human bones from the geological strata is easily accounted for; whilst, at the same time, the alleged recent discovery of human implements in a 'formation of earlier date than the historic period,' is rendered intelligible.

Now, we would not blame any one for entertaining the hypothesis that our earth has been the abode of preAdamite populations of human beings. The conjecture has been made before, and, without harm to any son of Adam, may be made again. But the author of this pamphlet is not satisfied with conjecture; he asserts that there is evidence in the Mosaic record itself of the existence of such prior population. To this assertion we must demur. His argument fails to show that the records contained in the first two chapters of Genesis do not stand to each other (as they are commonly and naturally supposed to do) in the relation of general to special narrative. And we must further demur to being awed into the acceptance of any doctrine or theory whatsoever, by the We frequent use of capital letters.

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are not to be convinced of the existence of a pre-Adamite race of men and women by the bold assertion, 'Ir IS TRUE! Capitals' thus employed in the course of an argument always weaken it. They may be well enough meant; but their domineering and somewhat bullying aspect is resented by the reader as a kind of personal insult

THE

CHRISTIAN SPECTATOR.

FEBRUARY, 1862.

THE EXODUS ACCOMPLISHED AT JERUSALEM.

A STUDY ON THE SAMENESS OF JESUS CHRIST THROUGH ALL AGES.

'And behold there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory, and spake of the decease (ry odov) which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.'-Luke ix. 30.

This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.'-Acts i. 2.

'Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.'-Heb. xiii. 8.

A CAREFUL examination of the statements of the first three Evangelists will bring out the following facts respecting the transfiguration of our Lord :-that it took place not on Tabor of Galilee, but on the wooded sides of one of the lofty mountains in the range of the lower Hermon; that it occurred towards the end of our Saviour's ministry, before his last journey to Jerusalem; and that the vision appeared at night, when Jesus had retired for prayer, and when his apostles were heavy with sleep.'

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The objects designed in the transfiguration, were, no doubt, manifold. The Infinite Mind has many meanings in its acts. had probably some bearings on the state of thought and feeling in the invisible world, but those, as in the case of the upward relations of the death of Christ, we are less able to appreciate. It had probably bearings upon the mind and feelings of our blessed Lord himself; it was a baptism of glory to strengthen Him for his approaching baptism of blood. It had bearings upon the faith and intelligence of the Apostles who beheld it, being fitted to brace their souls for the great conflicts which awaited them at the crucifixion, and until the end of their ministry. And it had bearings upon the faith and hope of the Church until the end of the world: for this radiant vision shines still through the darkness of centuries, the

VOL. III-NEW SERIES.

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miniature representation, and emblem, and prophecy, of the kingdom of the resurrection. It was eight days after Christ's affirmation that some were standing round him who should not taste of death until they had seen the kingdom of God,' that Peter, and James, and John were led up to behold this ravishing apparition; and we can scarcely doubt that his reference in these mystical words was to the privilege in store for them of so soon beholding the King in his beauty. They were destined to be the witnesses in all nations to the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the glory of the Father:' and therefore they were made to be eyewitnesses of His majesty,' in order that with victorious strength they might say, that they had not followed cunningly devised fables.' This voice,' they said, which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him on the holy mount! They had seen, on the summits of the Hermon, an image of the everlasting Kingdom. They had seen the Sun of human souls shine forth in the effulgence of an endless life; they had seen and heard Moses and Elijah conversing with their Lord, as ambassadors from the inhabitants of the unseen world; and they had listened, amidst the glory of the shekinah, to the accents of Almighty Love.

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To one point alone in this wonderful narrative we will restrict our attention; the aspect of the transfiguration towards the abodes of the blessed. Observe the language employed in the 31st verse. 'They spake,' says our version, of the decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.' The word here employed is unusual. is not the common word for death, but todos—the EXODUS, or exit which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. It is remarkable that the very same word, used only twice in this sense in the New Tes tament, is employed by Peter in his second epistle, when speaking of his own departure,' in connexion with a reference to the transfiguration. I will endeavour that after my decease, after my exodus, ye shall have these things always in remembrance.' At the transfiguration, Peter learned to think of his death as an exodus, an exit. The grand idea shining forth in this word is lost by our version of decease in both cases. It is true that the idea of death is involved in both instances, but that idea is not alone. Standing alone it is incomplete, and wholly insufficient to convey the meaning of the exodus. The other essential idea is, departure from this world into the invisible-the translation from earth to heaven. While, therefore, we do not doubt that the subject of discourse between Christ and the two prophets was his approaching death, to which the world should owe the abolition of death and the bringing in of immortality, it is equally clear that what ultimately occupied their minds was the approaching speedy ascension and reception of Jesus into the sphere of glory, from which, for one midnight hour, they had descended to afford the apostles the evidence of its reality.

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