Mr. Richard Alleine's Vindicia Pietatis.* Taking all these facts and quotations into consideration, it seems clear that not only was Mr. Richard Alleine not the author of the Form of Covenant, but that it was supplied to him by his son-in-law, Mr. Joseph Alleine, who has also inserted it in his own immortal work, the " Alarm to unconverted Sinners." Concerning the "Alarm," it may not be improper to state, that it was (as appears by the introduction to it, by Richard Baxter, and Richard Alleine,) a posthumous work, and was first published in 1672. A copy of it, (Nevil Simmons, London, 1678,) under the title, "The Way to true Happiness," now lies before the writer; and fifty thousand copies of it were sold under the title, "The sure Guide to Heaven." Can any of your readers furnish you with a copy of Joseph Alleine's "Call to Archippus?" It would be an acceptable contribution to your pages. КАРРА. HORE BIBLICÆ. No. XVIII. THE FESTIVAL OF THE GOLDEN CALF, &c. A SUCCESSION of allusions to Egypt are found in Exodus xxxii. The representation of Jehovah under the image of the golden calf is only explainable on the supposition of Egyptian influence, and it stands in connexion with the worship of Apis. It is supposed that a striking analogy is found in the descriptions of the feasts of the gods among the Egyptians, for the manner in which the festival of the golden calf was celebrated by the Israelites, as exhibited in the following passages :-Verse 6, "And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play." Verse 17, "And when Joshua heard the noise of the people, as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp." Verse 18, where Moses says, "The noise of song I hear." And in verse 19, "And he saw the calf and the dancing." The most ancient popular rites of the Egyptians were, according to Creuzer, of the nature of orgies, and the fundamental character of their religion was Bacchanalian. Sensual songs were sung, with the accompaniment of noisy instruments. Of the yearly journey to Bubastis, Herodotus § says, "Throughout the whole. journey, some of the women strike the cymbal, whilst men play the flute, and the rest of the women and men sing and clap with their hands; and when they, in their journey, come near a town, they bring the boat near the shore, and conduct as follows: some of the women do as I have already described, some jeer at the women of the town, with loud voices, and some dance,” while others commit other unseemly acts. Especially is it said concerning the feast of Apis,|| "But when Cambyses came to Memphis, * See Palmer's Nonconformist Memorial, vol. iii., p. 212. + Wilkinson connects it with the worship of the Mnevis of Heliopolis. After speaking of the worship of the sacred animals in general, he says, "The Hebrew Legislator felt the necessity of preventing the Jews from falling into this, the most gross practice of which idolatry was guilty. The worship of the golden calf, a representation of the Mnevis of Heliopolis, was a proof how their minds had become imbued with the superstitions they had beheld in Egypt, which the mixed 'multitude had practised there."" Second Series, vol. ii., pp. 96, 97. But it is of little consequence which is referred to. The allusion is sufficiently plain in either case. Symbol. I. S. 448, 9. § B. 2, c. 60. || B. 3, c. 27. Apis (whom the Greeks call Epaphos) was shown to the Egyptians, and as he appeared, the Egyptians forthwith put on their most costly garments, and exulted." 99* Just as here, in a manner throughout inimitable by one of later times, the circumstances, tendencies, and feelings of the people, who had grown up under Egyptian influences, are exhibited with incontrovertible truth. So are they, also, in the passage Lev. xvii. 7, already explained at large in a former work. It is there said, in reference to the rebellious Israelites : "They shall no longer offer their sacrifices to he-goats," (y) "after which they have lusted." The opposition which exists between a he-goat and a god, was removed in the Egyptian religion and in it only. "The he-goat, and also Pan, were, in the language of Egypt, named Mendes," says Herodotus, and almost all the Greeks follow him. This identity of names between the god and the he-goat, is explained by the pantheistic element in the Egyptian conception of the world. The he-goat was not barely a symbol of Mendes, for whom the Greeks, looking away from the other great differences, because of the form of the he-goat and his wantonness, substituted Pan; but the physical presentation, the incarnation of this god; and was therefore considered holy, and as worthy of divine honour. The service of the he-goat, as a deity, was very anciently performed in Egypt; and he was the participant of very high honour among them;§ so that we must necessarily expect the idolatrous inclination of the Israelites, awakened after a short slumber, to be also directed specially to this deity. We turn back to Exodus xxxii. Aaron demands, according to verse 2, of the children of Israel, the golden rings which are in the ears of their wives, their sons, and their daughters, in order to fashion from them the calf. "The golden ornaments found in Egypt," says Wilkinson,|| "consists of rings, bracelets, armlets, necklaces, ear-rings, and numerous trinkets belonging to the toilet: many of these are of the times of Osirtasen I., and Thothmes III., contemporaries of Joseph and Moses." The same author ¶ shows that ear-rings were commonly worn in Egypt. Rings of gold were so common in Egypt, according to Rosellini,** that they took, to a certain extent, the place of coin, and many times were used in trade. According to verse 20, Moses took the calf that they made, and burnt it, and beat it ++ (namely, the elements of the calf, externally gold, and inter * See also upon the sacred dance among the Egyptians, Wilkinson, ii., p. 340. + In den Beiträgen, Th. 2, S. 118, ff. B. 2, c. 46. § Compare Creuzer, Th. III., S. 325. H Wilk., vol. iii., p. 225. Vol. iii., p. 371-1. ** Vol. ii., p. 280. ++ In Wilkinson, vol. iii., pp. 220, 221, it is said, "A strong evidence of the skill of the Egyptians in working metals, and of the early advancement they made in this art, is derived from their success in the management of different alloys; which, as M. Goguet observes, is further argued from the casting of the golden calf, and still more from Moses being able to burn the metal, and reduce it to powder,a secret which he could only have learned in Egypt. It is said in Exodus, that 'Moses took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it;' an operation which, according to the French savant, is known by all who work in metals to be very difficult.' 'Commentators' heads,' he adds, have been much perplexed to explain how Moses burnt and reduced the gold to powder. Many have offered vain and improbable conjectures; but an experienced chemist has VOL. III.-FOURTH SERIES. F * nally wood, which had escaped the fire) until it was fine as powder. In Deut. ix. 21, Moses says of the same transaction, " And burned it with fire, and beat it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was as fine as dust." Wilkinson says, certain persons were employed, in the towns of Egypt, to pound various substances, in large stone mortars, with heavy metal pestles. When the substance was well pounded, it was taken out, and passed through a sieve, and the larger particles were again returned to the mortar, until the whole was sufficiently fine. In verse 32, Moses asks of God, " And now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." These words imply the customary employment of lists and rolls, which have existed in scarcely any other land so generally as they did in Egypt. The monuments often exhibit this frequency. Thus there is represented in a tomb at Gurnab a levying of Egyptian soldiers. The men, conducted by their Commander, go before a scribe, in order to be enrolled.t -Hengstenberg. REVIEW. The Church in the Catacombs: a Description of the Primitive Church of Rome, illustrated by its Sepulchral Remains. By Charles Maitland, M.D. London: Longmans. 1846. ANTIQUITY is the chosen plea, and the boast, of a system which the British Churches have long regarded as antichristian in a high degree. That the Protestant estimate is just, and that the martyred Reformers are injuriously classed with the vilest calumniators, it is not our immediate object to show. The reasonings of Chillingworth, Barrow, and others, still await a fair reply; while evidence, daily spreading and brightening, of the perfection, authority, and sufficiency of the Bible, offers to the Romanist new difficulties. From stormy controversy little good may be now expected. Instead of pursuing theological dialectics, some of our best contemporaries are proposing to urge the vital truth, in simple, tender, and re-iterated appeal, on the practical acceptance of those whom sophistry has beguiled and the night of ages enveloped. According to the judgment of the most influential Divine of the eighteenth century,-pronounced in 1738 at St. Mary's, Oxford, before the University,-" Salvation by faith strikes at the root" of the many-branching error. "It was this doctrine, which our Church justly calls the strong rock and foundation of the Christian religion, that first drove Popery out of these kingdoms; and it is this alone can keep it out." Of this monition coming events seem likely to prove the oracular wisdom. Yet the searching eye of the patriot, and of the saint, removed every difficulty upon the subject, and has suggested this simple process : in the place of tartaric acid, which we employ, the Hebrew Legislator used natron, which is common in the East. What follows, respecting his making the Israelites drink this powder, proves that he was perfectly acquainted with the whole effect of the operation. He wished to increase the punishment of their disobedience, and nothing could have been more suitable; for gold reduced, and made into a draught, in the manner I have mentioned, has a most disagreeable taste. *Vol. iii., p. 181, and drawing. + Rosellini, II., 3, p. 218. Compare 999 Herod., b. ii., c. 177. The strange must be fixed on the tactics of a warfare which others renew. phenomenon of superior zeal, more comprehensive policy, and more patient toil, often displayed in the adverse interest, must not glare on us in vain. It is ours to show that the truth has a power and glory all its own; that the motives it applies are fresh in all their primeval efficacy, and destined to survive the inspirations by which they are counterfeited. Such indication of the strength or weakness of a cause, as is given by the kind of argument used in its defence, is never to be overlooked. The illusions of language are to be dissipated,—the fallacies of pleading to be exposed. The habit of error is to take refuge in enthymeme: and it is, therefore, neces-、 sary to mark what is quietly assumed; to direct the vigorous scrutiny of our understanding on every part of the discussion; and, as in the example with which this paragraph commences, to demand the proof that everything ancient is, for that very reason, incontrovertible. The fascination of this plea is not confined to any age or theme. To the student of mind we assign the interesting task of analyzing a sentiment of which our race is so quickly susceptible. Let him inquire what contribution it receives from a restless dissatisfaction with the present, or an admiration of the excellencies which have adorned the past; from the " enchantment” which "distance lends to the view,"-affording a magnificent and impressive outline, while many dreary particulars are unseen; from the kindly disposition to blazon the merits of the dead, or the idea of a Saturnian reign from which earlier ages declined less than our own. The fact is not to be disputed, though its resolution may divide inquirers. Egyptians and Scythians have contended for the honour of being accounted the first race of mankind. Arcadians are said to have boasted an antiquity earlier than that of the revolving planet. Many a nation having no historical records, but eager to interpret obscurity into glory, has flattered itself with the notion of being coeval with the earth; while even Athenians described themselves as the offspring of their classic soil,-a distinction which they were quite willing to share with the Attic grasshoppers! In the penumbra of departed ages, founders of cities, lawgivers, benefactors, authors of useful arts, were once magnified into gods. For adoration the moderns have but substituted indiscriminate eulogy. At the magic allusion eloquence has kindled. Statesmen have been surprised into emotion; and Ecclesiastics have directed the flowing enthusiasm to their own ends. Prose has risen into lyrical transport, and verse has claimed the subject as its own. A single representative of the applauding band shall be heard : "Still green with bays each ancient altar stands, Above the reach of sacrilegious hands; Secure from flames, from envy's fiercer rage, Destructive war, and all-involving age. See from each clime the learn'd their incense bring! Hear, in all tongues, consenting Pæans ring! In praise so just let every voice be join'd, And fill the general chorus of mankind. Hail! bards triumphant! born in happier days; Whose honours with increase of ages grow, As streams roll down, enlarging as they flow: (That, on weak wings, from far pursues your flights; To admire superior sense, and doubt their own!”* But at length the mind is disenchanted. Reason claims an audience. Conscience awakes to the duty of examining the foundation of all religious belief. There may be no passion for what is modern. The testimony of the ancients may be respectfully accepted, as all men follow Cæsar in the story of the Gallic wars. There may be a just distaste for everything neological; and even a readiness to allow the presumption, as resting on other grounds, and measured by the extent of its premisses, that “what is new in theology is false." Above all, the distinction between the subjects which lie within the domain of inductive science, and the moral truth which "rejects the test of experience, and demands to be received on the strength of its own evidence," may be scrupulously maintained. But questions arise which infatuation alone will refuse to entertain :-Why should antiquity claim a submission due but to revelation? Is there not, in the singular providence of God, a marked difference between the inspired and the uninspired remains of the early church? We have often heard of expositions handed down from Apostles; but, without pausing at the assumption of a second inspiration,—which Jewish Prophets had not,—we may ask whether this allusion to fragments of infallible teaching is any thing more than a pleasing fancy? Or was the ray of sanctified intellect brighter in the fourth century than in the fourteenth,-in the second than in the nineteenth? Is there reason to believe that the Fathers reached certain high latitudes of excellence, which the thunder-storms of passion never disturbed? And at some future age, when the secrets of nature have been extorted by science inconceivably advanced, and the interpretation of the perfect word has been aided, in many important respects, by a higher discipline of mind and heart, shall we be the ancients? When the world is by so much the older, shall our descendants look back to us with morethan-filial veneration, and an unquestioning acceptance of our conclusions? All human opinions are to be tested by the record which lives through all time, and which-like eternity-exhibits no symptom of decay. We bow to the Scripture, not because it is ancient, but because it is "given by inspiration of God." Apart from the increasing glory of the successive communications, the latest writer is entitled to equal reverence with the earliest; and, if it were the divine plan now to add to the record, our obligation to "hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches" would apply, in unexhausted and unchanging force. From every point of view, in every age, amid variations in all beside, REVELATION IS SUPREME. To borrow an illustration, it is "like a star without parallax.' But mere antiquity proves nothing. Its suffrage given cannot convert heresy into truth its sanction denied cannot dissipate the evidence that commands the reasoning mind, or suspend the duty of yielding to independent conviction. As we refuse to bow to the award of the ancients, so we would not exaggerate the advantage arising from the disproof of the claim. The appeal ad hominem is not to be confounded with the argument ad rem. In the case supposed, the man who cites antiquity is just driven from that ground: the question is now where it was before the futile plea was instituted,—it is, in fact, remitted to other examination. * Pope's Essay on Criticism, part i., 181-200. |