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Not that moral transgression is one whit thereby softened, or the outward code weakened; but, on the contrary, the crime is aggravated by a new and infinite horror. This, then, is the second form of the seal, which, while the conscience is pure, is a shining light on the path of the just, and, when sin has polluted it, intensifies repentance, while it excludes despair.

A few inferences by way of conclusion are obvious :

(1) To the possessor this seal is axiomatic evidence of the objective truth of Christianity. He knows in whom he has believed. How to reconcile, in all points, the Bible with science and history, he may not know; but he feels that the Bible must be true.

(2) Those who know not by experience what this seal is, are in no position to deny or question its existence in others; for it is peculiar and incommunicable. The name on the white stone is only legible to him who receives it. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." It may not accord with the philosophy of some that the highest evidence of Christianity should have this moral element, this subjective limitation; but that they have is at once the explicit declaration of Scripture, and the uniform experience of believers.

(3) This being so, the fears sometimes expressed for the stability of the Christian faith, in view of modern discoveries, are impertinent. The refutation of truth is impossible; the refutation of falsehood is a thing to be wished, not feared. Can anything be more hypocritically contradictory than a pretended dread of the Bible being detected as spurious? To the soul taught of God the alternative is absurd; to the unbeliever, such a detection would be the justification of his scepticism, the demonstration of his wisdom, and the deliverance of his soul from a position too terrible to think of. Truly, in regard to these whining doubters, the Bible might take up the words of its great Author, addressed to the daughters of Jerusalem, who bewailed His sufferings: "Weep not for me, but for yourselves and for your children."

but

(4) If those who undertake to investigate the Christian evidences refuse to recognize the facts of Christian experience, they cease to be philosophers. The Pope and Galileo have changed places. The simple-minded believer, bewildered, not convinced by his infallible inquisitors, turns to bay with the Christian E pur si muove-"One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." To attempt to discuss the question of the truth of the Gospel, without regard to its spiritual results, is to the last degree unreasonable, "Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?" That which converts men from sin to holiness, from trivial frivolity to noble purposes, enabling them to overcome temptation, to rejoice

in tribulation, and to triumph in death, must be a reality, whether we can account for it or not. It is the merest affectation to ignore a class of facts which have been before the world eighteen hundred years. We hear much of the deductions of modern science, of extinct animal forms reconstructed from fragmentary bones, and of articles of human workmanship found in pre-Adamite deposits; but what of that old record, "engraven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever," "I know that my Redeemer liveth"? This demands a solution as much as the arrow-heads in the drift. The latter may yet admit of an explanation consistent with the Bible's truthfulness; the former will admit of none consistent with. its falsity. E. J. J.

WORKS ON THE HOLY LAND.

1. The Giant Cities of Bashan, and Syria's Holy Places. By Rev. J. L. Porter. London: T. Nelson & Sons.

2. A Hundred Days in the East. By Rev. A. P. Black. London: Shaw & Co.

3. Home in the Holy Land: A Tale. By Mrs. Finn. London: J. Nisbet & Co.

THE number of works on the Holy Land which are published almost every month, is really surprising, when we consider how little was formerly known of the habits and customs of the people dwelling in Palestine. But now, a journey to Jerusalem seems to be no more uncommon than a trip to Paris was twenty or thirty years ago. Every traveller from the East brings fresh proofs of the wonderful accuracy of Scripture, even in the minutest details. But none are more marvellous than the discoveries of Mr. Porter among the Giant Cities of Bashan. Leaving the ordinary track of travellers, Mr. Porter penetrated into the wild and almost unexplored country of Bashan; and richly was he rewarded for the pains he took. Not only did he find the cities of the giants standing, but the very houses as perfect as when inhabited, four thousand years ago, by the giant Rephaim. In the town of Burâk, Mr. Porter spent a night in one of the ancient houses, of which he says, "The house seemed to have undergone little change from the time its old master had left it; and yet the thick nitrous crust on the floor showed that it had been deserted for long ages. The halls were perfect, nearly five feet thick, built of large blocks of hewn stones, without lime or cement of any kind.

The roof was formed of large slabs of the same black basalt, lying as regularly, and jointed as closely, as if the workmen had only just completed them. They measured 12 feet in length, 18 inches in breadth, and six inches in thickness. The ends rested on plain stone cornices, projecting about a foot from each side wall. The chamber was 20 feet long, 12 wide, and 10 high. The outer door was a slab of stone, 4 feet high, 4 wide, and 8 inches thick. It hung upon pivots, formed of projecting parts of the slab, working in sockets in the lintel and threshold; and though so massive, I was able to open and shut it with ease. At one end of the room there was a small window with a stone shutter. An inner door, also of stone, but of finer workmanship and not quite so heavy as the other, admitted to a chamber of the same size and appearance. From it a much larger door communicated with a third chamber, to which there was a descent by a flight of stone steps. This was a spacious hall, equal in width to tho two rooms, and about 25 feet long by 20 high. A semicircular arch was thrown across it, supporting the stone roof; and a gate, so large that camels could pass in and out of it, opened into the street. It is not a little remarkable that a thousand years after this the arch was utterly unknown, both in Grecian and Egyptian architecture, and has hitherto been thought to have been first introduced to the notice of the world by the Romans. The gate was of stone, and in its place; but some rubbish had accumulated on the threshold, and it appeared to have been open for ages." In these days of unbelief and scepticism, it is well that such proofs of the accuracy of Scripture should be given to the public by men of such note as Mr. Porter, whose veracity no one will for a moment doubt. In the account we have in Deuteronomy of the conquest of Bashan, begun under the leadership of Moses, and completed under Jair, we read, in the 3rd chapter, that the Israelites took no less than sixty great cities, "besides unwalled towns a great many." Some people might think such a statement quite incredible. That a small province, only measuring about thirty miles by twenty, could contain such a number, is indeed wonderful, but not the less true. Our author assures us that he has seen and visited

many of them. "On the spot, with my own eyes, I have seen that it is literally true. The cities are there to this day. Some of them retain the ancient names recorded in the Bible. The boundaries of Argob are as clearly defined by the hand of nature as those of our own island home. These ancient cities of Bashan contain, probably, the very oldest specimens of domestic architecture in the world." From Salcah alone were visible eleven old cities; some of them were visited by Mr. Cyril Graham, a friend of the author's, and a most enter

prising traveller. He found the houses nearly perfect, but utterly deserted,-" without man and without beast." The whole land of Bashan is one grand scene of desolation, except where the wandering Bedaween pitch their tent; and they waste all before them. So truly is the word of God fulfilled: "For the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein." (Jer. xlviii. 9.)

In the eastern part of Bashan the towns are exceedingly numerous, and many of them still retain the same name which they bore before the Israelites came out of Egypt. The houses are large and massive, all built of stone, and the rooms lofty and spacious, but uninhabited and deserted. Mr. Porter gives us an interesting account of the Druses, whose hospitality he often shared, and of whose protection he was glad to avail himself sometimes. They are warlike, bold, and hardy, and have several times defied the power of the Pasha and his soldiers. But the great secret of their strength is their union. Their religion seems to be almost a mystery, but their meetings are undoubtedly more of a political than a religious nature. They meet in their chapels once a week, and refuse admission to all the uninitiated, keeping their proceedings a profound secret. In their intercourse with strangers they are generous and remarkably hospitable, but in war they are fierce and unsparing.

"A Hundred Days in the East."-The Author has sought for illustrations of Bible scenes and character in his journeying through Eastern lands, and he has well succeeded. The book is interestingly written; but we think if the matter had been compressed into a volume of about one-half the size it would have been better; there is rather too much of mere talking in it. However, it will, we hope, prove a useful addition to many Sunday-school libraries. The hospitality of the Arabs has long been proverbial. The patriarchs of old sat in their tent doors, and begged the stranger to turn in and rest; and the modern Arab still does the same in the present day. "No stranger is allowed to pass without an invitation to enter, nor permitted to depart without refreshment. Wheaten cakes and goat's milk are placed before him, and sometimes a kid from the flock is caught, killed, and baked." One of the most curious facts mentioned by Mr. Black is that rice now forms the principal article of food at Nablous, the ancient Shechem or Sychar, and cotton the chief article of manufacture. Now, neither of these are mentioned in the Bible, unless it could be that rice was included under the general name of corn. But we certainly do not find any allusion to cotton in the Scriptures, and we should be curious to know when it was introduced into that country, and first became an article of commerce. Herodotus speaks of

it with surprise as the clothing of a division of the army of half a million, with which Xerxes crossed the Hellespont upon his bridge of boats.

"Home in the Holy Land" is, as its title indicates, a tale "illustrating customs and incidents in modern Jerusalem," pleasingly written, and very fit to be placed in the hands of children. We are amazed to think what a world of information is now placed in the hands of children, from which even the present generation in their youth were utterly excluded. We cannot recall a single work of that date at once amusing and instructive on the subject of Palestine. All we had were dry epitomes of history, or still dryer geographical outlines.

POETRY.

A MISSIONARY PRAYER.

"But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." (Matt. ix. 36.)

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Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." (John iv. 35.)

LORD of the harvest, Thee we pray
To speed the favour'd gath'ring-day,
To send in strength the lab'ring band,
Thy work to do with prosp'ring hand.
The fields are white, the waving grain
Thick as a forest crowds the plain,
A glorious wage the toil awaits,

E'en life for aye, thro' heaven's sure gates,
Yet few, how few, go forth to reap
The treasures of that harvest deep;

We call,—but who will answer yield,
And hie them to the golden field?

Lord, speak the word! Then hosts shall rise
To join Thy mercy's enterprise;
Thy Gospel's banner, wide unfurl'd,
Shall wave o'er all this rebel world;

Men of all tribes, and climes, and lands,
Shall stretch to Thee their suppliant hands,
Plead that blest Name which saves alone,

And all Thy Spirit's influence own.
Lord, look on China's vast domains!
Lord, favour India's burning plains!
Lord, pity Afric's sable race!
Call every nation, every place,
Yea, ev'ry heart of man, to prove
The blessing of a Saviour's love.

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