accident rather than design led to the selection of authors from two denominations, to the exclusion of those of other sections of the church. Still we could have wished that all the writers had not been Pædobaptist, that some one had belonged to the Episcopal church, and that some representative of the Methodist bodies had been invited to take part in this noble utterance of a plea for unity. Any platform of union surrounded with Calvinism and Pædobaptism, firmly as we believe in both, would, in our judgment, be far too narrow, as it would tacitly exclude bodies of Christians without whom our Protestant unity would still be sectarian. The volume itself enunciates noble principles, and breathes a holy and devout spirit, which may be cordially reciprocated by all the church of Christ. This book is beautifully printed, and published at so low a price as to bring it within the reach of many thousands of purchasers. Any short extracts made from its pages would fail to convey an adequate impression of its sterling excellence and varied attractions; and we therefore content ourselves with earnestly entreating our readers to ponder its contents, convinced as we are that such an exercise will be highly profitable, leading them with increasing devotedness to labour after "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

1. A Pastor's Memorial of Egypt, the Red Sea, the Wildernesses of Sin and Paran, Mount Sinai, Jerusalem, and other principal localities of the Holy Land, visited in 1842; with brief notes of a route through France, Rome, Naples, Constantinople, and up the Danube. By the Rev. George Fisk, LL.B., Prebendary of Lichfield, Rural Dean, and Vicar of Walsall. Seeley, Burnside and Seeley. 8vo. pp. 461.

2. Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews from the Church of Scotland in 1839. Edinburgh: White and Co. pp. 555. 3. A Visit to my Father Land, being notes of a Journey to Syria and Palestine, in 1843. By Ridley H. Herschell. Unwin. pp. 258.

(Concluded from p. 532.)

OUR brethren entered Jerusalem with excited emotions. We can understand their feelings on such an occasion. An infectious sympathy invades us as we write, producing tender and solemn thoughts. We have accompanied them in their wanderings within and around the holy city. Much information relative to the Jews is given in the narrative of the Scottish Mission. Their number in Jerusalem is about 7000, in Palestine 12,000. Turks, and nominal Christians, alike insult them. "As a body, they are divided: hatred, jealousies, and animosities sadly prevail among them." A large number are emigrants from other countries. These are supported by the contributions of their brethren in Europe. All of them are Rabbinists, and

superstitious in the extreme. This may be inferred from the fact, that they consist principally of the "élite of the devotional and strictly religious Jews of other countries." Though of the stricter sort, the next sentence adds, " They have so little trade, that their covetousness and cheating are turned one upon another." Christian missions among them have produced very little direct fruit, but a broader foundation is being laid for future efforts. Mr. Herschell states the singular fact, "That within the last few years there have been fourteen converts from Christianity to Judaism."

It is interesting to notice the varied impressions Gethsemane made on our friends,—all of them being earnest and devout Christians.

"Such is Gethsemane. I have gazed down upon it from the heights on either side. I have traversed again and again its length and breadth. I have mused, and meditated, and prayed, beneath its venerable shade; and in my mind, it possesses a charm beyond all other scenes in the world."—A Pastor's Memorial, p. 268.

"Issuing forth by St. Stephen's gate, we crossed the Kedron and once more visited Gethsemane, a spot which called forth fresh interest every time we saw it, and has left a fragrant remembrance on our minds that can never fade away."-Narrative, &c. p. 194.

"I felt this a solemn spot; it was impossible to visit it, for the first time at least, without a lively recollection of Him who 'poured out his soul unto death.' I felt how natural to the human mind is the worship of the visible, the love of relics. I could not resist pulling many twigs of those ancient olive-trees."-Visit, &c. p. 162.

Our Episcopal brother became entranced with interest, when standing within the enclosure where the Saviour of the world agonised. The divines of the Church of Scotland felt the deep power of its sacred associations; and these acquired more intensity on each repeated visit, and have fixed impressions on their minds, on which time or distance cannot cast a shadow. Mr. Herschell felt that he stood on no common earth, but unwillingly yielded to the charm which he was conscious had been wrought upon his spiritual nature. The first sentence is apologetic in its tone,―he could not visit that spot, for the first time at least, without its awakening in him a vivid conception of the agonising Redeemer. On his subsequent visits, therefore, its influence would become faint, like the vanishing lights of a distant horizon. Some spiritual instinct, not sanctioned by his pure reason, compelled him to pluck some memorials of that garden where Jesus " offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears." An inward struggle is indicated in the statement, that he could not resist the act. Apparently, the warm emotions of his heart, and the plucking of those twigs of the olive-trees, produced a spasm in the mind of our excellent and esteemed brother. The danger of a spurious adoration flashed upon his cautious intellect, and his hand might tremble at the idea that it held a relic. On the next page, Mr. Herschell favours us with the

following remarks, enunciating a general principle, suggested by the circumstances under notice :

:

"I firmly believe, that if we seek to affect the mind by the aid of architecture, painting, or music, the impression produced by these adjuncts is just so much subtracted from the worship of the unseen Jehovah. If the outward eye is taken up with material splendour, or forms of external beauty, the mind's eye sees but little of Him who is invisible;' the ear that is entranced with the melody of sweet sounds, listens not to the still small voice' by which the Lord makes his presence known."-Visit, &c. p. 163.

It is here substantially, though not in express terms, affirmed, that it is wrong to attempt the communication of religious thoughts or impressions, through the medium of the senses. If Mr. H. does mean this, then we say it is a dogma to which we cannot give our full assent. Aware of the appalling abuse of the counter-principle thus proscribed, through the world's history, yet we must vindicate the principle itself, and oppose that involved in the remarks of Mr. H. Error is often the source of error, by causing such a rebound of the mind, that it now readily yields to the attractive force of opposite and extreme views. Who raised the architecture of the material universe? And does its contemplation darken our knowledge, and deaden our worship of the invisible Creator? "The heavens declare the glory of God,"-i. e., convey to the mind impressions-knowledge of the existence and the power of the Almighty. Jehovah, in his converse with Job, directed the patriarch to creation and providence, as bright with evidence of his majesty, wisdom, and goodness. We will place a remark of Mr. H.'s in juxta-position with a verse from the epistle to the Romans.

Mr. HERSCHELL.

"If the outward eye is taken up with material splendour, or forms of external beauty, the mind's eye sees but little of Him who is invisible."

PAUL.

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."

We do not say that these quotations are exactly parallel, because Mr. Herschell is referring to that material beauty and splendour which may adorn the works of man, while the apostle is speaking of the works of God; but a great principle exists beneath the immediate objects of reference, and on that, we hold, there is an evident disagreement. If the principle, as it is broadly put by Mr. H., be sound, the material splendour of Jehovah's descent on Mount Sinai was injurious to the piety of the Israelites; and when the cloud covered the tabernacle, their view of "Him who is invisible" would be obscured. The institution of the Lord's supper negatives, with the full force of Divine authority, the position involved in the observations before us.

What painting has such lavished beauty as the "bow in the cloud," pencilled there by the finger of God, with the express design of producing devout and confiding affections in those who behold it? Is God concealed by its "form of external beauty?" Ah, no! many a thoughtful mind, and many thoughtless ones too, have been kindled into adoration by its witness of His fidelity and goodness. And we would utter our protest, loud as the trump of an archangel, against such an absolute proscription of the "melody of sweet sounds." There is melody in the human voice, as in that of a Chrysostom or a Whitefield; but is the power it gave them over their hearers unsound in principle, or spurious in its effects? Music entered largely into the worship of the Jewish dispensation; the words, and probably the melody, being furnished largely by inspired men. It seems strange, that a son of Abraham, in Jerusalem, within view of that Mount Zion on which so often had been heard the voice of Asaph, and the harp of David, should pen their anathema. What design had the SONG of the angels, which the shepherds heard, if that "melody of sweet sounds" enfeebled their adoring homage of the infant Jesus?" When Paul and Silas SANG praises in the prison, God's presence became manifest in the trembling of the earth, and the loosening of the bolts and fetters of the prisoners. Mr. H. might say, that his objection lies only against instrumental music; but this is not stated, and his language seems more sweeping in its censure. But if he would draw such a distinction between the musical effect of the human voice, and that of instruments, we cannot admit its soundness; for the voice is the most perfect musical instrument in existence, and its tones the sweetest that fall on the human ear. Good singing-worthy of the name-equals, or surpasses, the power of any mere instruments to entrance the ear, or melt the soul. There is, therefore, no such distinction as would support Mr. H.'s views. We understand the evils, we are tremblingly alive to the dangers from which Mr. H. shrinks; and had he ever so forcibly pointed them out, we should have been gratified for the service. What we object to is the extreme position he takes, and what we deny is, that the voices of the material world are to be silenced in the witness they give of their Creator; or that our senses-those precious gifts of God, are to be absolutely proscribed, as the medium of religious knowledge, or of devout emotion. Mr. H. says:- -"I felt how natural to the human mind is the worship of the visible." We do not believe this, when predicated of man universally. The degradation of reason is not the primitive or the natural condition of our race. Superstition is the evidence of the infirmity of our noble nature; but it is not the standard by which we are to measure its intellectual elevation, or its power of moral discernment. We feel how natural it is to the human mind to worship; and to worship THROUGH the visible; and are satisfied that any system that utterly denies this in principle, and totally forbids it in

practice, will not successfully instruct the great masses of the human

race.

Mr. Herschell gives a dark picture of the formalism and corruption of the Greek church. The juggle of the miraculous fire, which takes place on the Saturday of the Greek Easter week, is a hateful compound of hypocrisy and fraud. The scene of the imposture is the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The mighty edifice is crowded with the undisciplined and ignorant pilgrims of the Eastern church. Devotees, with frenzied minds and excited gesticulation, rapidly move in its interior in every direction. About two o'clock in the afternoon, preparations were made for the production of the holy fire. The multitude became tranquil :

"Bishops and priests in their full canonicals, then issued forth from their respective quarters, with flags and banners, crucifixes and crosses, lighted candles and smoking censers, to join or rather to lead, a procession which moved thrice round the church, invoking every picture, altar, and relic in their way to aid them in obtaining the miraculous fire. The procession then returned to the place from whence it started; and two grey-headed bishops, the one of the Greek, the other of the Armenian church, were hurled by the soldiers through the crowd into the apartment which communicated with that of the Holy Sepulchre, where they locked themselves in; there the marvellous fire was to make its first appearance, and from thence issue through the small circular windows and the door for the use of the pilgrims. . . . . In about twenty minutes from the time the bishops locked themselves in the apartment of the Holy Sepulchre, the miraculous fire made its appearance through the door and the two small windows, as expected. The priests were the first who lighted their torches, around whom the people flocked like bees to have their candles lighted."-Visit, &c. pp. 176-178.

Some of the pilgrims, men and women, exposed their bosoms to the action of their lighted candles, to give proof to unbelievers that it was perfectly harmless, and different from ordinary fire. The two bishops who had produced this fire, were carried on the shoulders of the multitude to their chapels, "amidst loud and triumphant acclamations." Yet to men capable of acting such lying wonders, the Archbishop of Canterbury addressed the following letter:

"To the Right Reverend our Brothers in Christ the Prelates and Bishops of the ancient Apostolic Churches in Syria, and the countries adjacent, greeting in the Lord. We, William, by Divine Providence Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and Metropolitan, most earnestly commend to your brotherly love the Right Rev. Michael Solomon Alexander, Doctor in Divinity, whom we, being assured of his learning and piety, have consecrated to the office of a Bishop of the united Church of England and Ireland, according to the ordinances of our Holy and Apostolic Church, and having obtained the consent of our Sovereign Lady the Queen, have sent out to Jerusalem, with authority to exercise spiritual jurisdiction over the clergy and congregations of our church which are now, or which hereafter may be established in the countries above-mentioned. And in order to prevent any misunderstanding in regard to this our purpose, we think it right to make known to you, that we have charged the said bishop our brother not to intermeddle in any