THE DEAD SEA.

The following account of a recent visit to this scene of judgment, is from the pen of a correspondent of the Daily News:

"At midnight the loud tolling of the convent bell called the brethren (of St. Saba) to their nocturnal devotions in the chapel; thence the strong swell of some three dozen manly voices musically chanting the litany, came rolling in upon us with sleep-dispelling effect till an hour before dawn, when, having imbibed a fortifying draught of hot coffee, and made the usual small contribution to the convent treasury, we took leave of these hospitable St. Anthonies, and proceeded on our way to the Dead Sea. Odd patches of the gloomy lake were visible from time to time, as we rode over 18 miles of even more barren and scorched mountains than those we had already crossed; but it was not till we were within a quarter of a mile of the beach, that the whole sheet of its waters fell at once under the eye. Here, heightened and confirmed, did the idea of utter desolation strike the minds of all: a deathlike repose seemed to hang over everything, and the only traces of vegetation that could be seen were a few half-withered bushes of camel-thorn on the edge of the plain, and the green line of trees and jungle that marks the winding course of the Jordan downwards from the Sea of Galilee. For a distance of thirty yards from the water, the shore was deeply furrowed, as if by the action of former and higher waves, and strewed with drifted wood bleached almost white by the sun. At nine o'clock the heat was becoming oppressive, and we lost no time in making preparations for a bathe. For several hundred yards in the water the lake was no more than five feet deep, but this was sufficient to test the alleged marvellous buoyancy about which travellers have said and written so much; and the result enables me to add our

joint testimony to that which has been given by others. Each of us did our utmost to sink by lying flat upon the water, with perfectly empty lungs, by twisting ourselves up into all possible shapes, and by endeavouring by the strongest downward pressure to get below the surface; but in vain. In fact, as one of my companions remarked, if it had been possible to raise a sail, we might have skimmed across the lake without the movement of a limb. So also of the nauseous bitterness and sliminess of the

water, I have read no account that at all exaggerates the actual fact: putrid sea water intensely salined might perhaps resemble it in taste, but nothing short of a solution of glue mixed with rancid oil, could equal the stinking clamminess with which it adheres to one's skin, hair, and beard; matting, when it dries, the hair in such a way that it requires no little subsequent labour to effect its disentanglement and purification. The smarting effect upon the eyes and the inner membrane of the nose, was intensely painful; and the general result of the bathe was extreme lassitude and stiffness for nearly half an hour after. After a collation under the shade of our Arab's cloak, raised canopy-wise on four pieces of driftwood, we again mounted, and turning our backs on this Judean Avernus, cantered rapidly over the plain towards the point at which the Jordan is usually visited-the spot fixed by tradition as that of the Saviour's baptism by John. The distance from the sea to this point is about three miles, and over the whole of the route we trod not upon a single blade of grass-vegetation, in fact, there was none. On all sides the ground was whitened with a saline crust-such as I had before met with in the great plain of Tabreez-brought out by the action of the sun after rain, from a soil strongly impregnated with this mineral." J. N. L.

BETHLEHEM.

"FAR away to the east rises the conical hill where Herod died, and now we mount the ridge of which that hill is the eastern extremity, and crowning the crest of the opposite ridge is a long line of houses, with the massive and lofty convent. There was a shout which ran down the long file of horsemen, followed by deep silence- BETHLEHEM!'

"It is a wild bleak hill, amidst hills equally bleak-if bleak may be applied to hills which are terraced with vineyards; in autumn, of course, rich and green, and which now in part wave with corn. One only green plain, I believe, of grass, hangs

behind the town. But what most arrests the eye is the elevation of the whole place, and, above all, that most striking feature, which was to me quite unexpected-the immense wall of the mountains of Moab seeming to overhang the lower hills of Judah, from which they are only separated by that deep mysterious gulf of the Dead Sea. Well might Moses from their summit overlook the Promised Land. Well might Orpah return as to a near country-and Naomi be reminded of her sorrows. Well might her descendant David choose their heights as the refuge for his aged parents when Bethlehem was no longer safe for them."-Stanley's Sinai and Palestine.

Correspondence.

We have received some interesting letters from various correspondents; but we find it quite impossible to give them all a place, at least, to the full extent of their wishes. We must therefore present our readers with an abridged summary of their contents.

THE DAY OF CHRIST.

A correspondent, whose signature is Beta, wishes to know whether 2 Thess. ii. 1, 2 does not prove that the coming of the Lord to take his church is manifestly distinct from His day; and observes that the apostle Paul here, appears to assign His coming and the gathering of the saints unto HIM, as a reason for their not being disquieted with the thought that the day of Christ was already come.

ENDS OF THE WORLD.

The same correspondent wishes for an explanation of 1 Cor. x. 11: "Upon whom the ends of the world are come."

asks a number of questions, from which we select the following: Another correspondent, who calls himself "A Subscriber,"

THE PLACE OF THE DEAD.

In reference to John iii. 13, where are Enoch and Elijah, if they are not ascended up into heaven? and where are the saints that have died since the days of Abraham and Moses?

THE IMAGE OF GLORY.

In reference to 2 Cor. iii. 18, is it in this world that we are

promised to behold with open face the glory of the Lord, and to be changed into his image?

THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

We insert the following letter, which has been sent to us for this purpose, in the hope that the Satan-deluded author of the pamphlet referred to, and his approving readers may see it, peruse it, and take warning ere it be too late :

2, Little's Lane, Wolverhampton. 7 Oct., 1856.

To Mr. Charles F. Jones. Sir,-Having recently received from you a very singular pamphlet, called "Marriage and Morals in Utah," I am constrained to say a few words upon it to you. This I do both as a Christian man, and as a servant of the Lord; not as being appointed to any office, or as giving forth the sentiments of any class of persons.

Observe! I do not write in the tone of offence, or as one offended, but with much pain and sorrow of heart that anything so defiling and injurious to the truth should have emanated from any class of persons calling themselves "saints" (holy persons), and should ever have been wickedly fathered upon the character of the ever blessed God, the object of all true adoration and worship.

In this pamphlet I am pained to observe that there is nothing said about what can give relief to a troubled conscience; about the calling of "saints" to heaven, and their walking worthy of that "calling"; and about the person and work of the Son of God: but only about the perpetuation of our species, and the desire to get possession of as wide a space of the earth as possible; as if our whole destiny and need were met in such carnal wretched pursuits as these. Is it not monstrous that anything "saints" (and that too in so low and grovelling can occupy

prove, not only a resurrection, but the necessity of one, which many of thein denied.

hope that even thus the wrath of man shall praise the Lord. As for the poetry, or hymns as they are called, we shall cite Mr. Binney's opinion in our notice of his letter.

Our Study.

E. I. H.

The Life of Luther, written by himself; or, the Autobiography of Luther, in passages extracted from his writings, including his experiences, struggles, doubts, temptations, and consolations; with additions and illustrations. Collected and arranged by M. Michelet. (W. H. Collingridge, London.) The first part of the title of this book is a misnomer, which is contradicted by the second part. The author is a Roman Catholic, a fact which he avows in his preface. The work consists of extracts from the writings of Luther, which, no doubt, would be exceedingly valuable in composing a biography of that eminent man; but which, in their detached state, as here given, do not really constitute what may be honestly denominated a Life of Luther. If these extracts be honourably and truly made, they are certainly very interesting, as giving us an insight into his real history as a Christian, a reformer, a citizen, and the father of a family; but separated, as they are, from the context where they occur in his writings, they are extremely liable to misconstruction; and we fear that the author, from his religious bias, is too likely to fall into this error. The book, however, with all its disadvantages, is a remarkable testimony from the hand of an avowed enemy to Protestantism, in favour of one of the greatest lights of the Reformation. In a future edition, we would desire to see some passages expunged, which | offend both decency and propriety.

The Church of God; to which is added, Christian Husbandry. By Ambrose Serle. (Co. Waterford: Bonmahon Industrial Printing School, and W. H. Collingridge, London.) We are glad to see such excellent books as this, issuing from a typographical establishment in Ireland, and we hope that they will have an extensive circulation in that rising country. The cheap dissemination of books on true religion will, in combination with the practical agricultural improvements now adopted by Irish capitalists, do more good in a few years, to the Roman Catholic population, than all the nostrums of their priests have done for centuries. We hope the young Irish printers will be more careful to avoid errata; there are too many in this volume. The Controversy on Important Theological Questions; between the Eclectic Review, the Rev. Newman Hall, Rev. Thomas Binney, and the Rev. Messrs. Henry Allon, James Baldwin Brown, &c., &c., on the one side, and Mr. James Grant, Editor of the Morning Advertiser, on the other. Reprinted, with additions, from the M. A. Ninth Edition. (W. H. Collingridge, London.) This is the celebrated pamphlet which was the origin of the "Rivulet Controversy." It contains Mr. Grant's review of Mr. Lynch's pretended Christian Hymns, his exposure of The Eclectic Review" for praising the said hymns, the "Postscript" to that Review, signed by fifteen congregational ministers in defence of Mr. Lynch and his poems, the observations of Mr Grant on the Postscript, the Eclectic, and the Patriot, and his remarks on the prevalence of pernicious errors among the Dissenters. Although we much disapprove of the spirit in which this Controversy has been carried on, yet we believe that some important facts have been elicited; and we

The Gospel Cottage Lecturer: addressed to the Spiritually Poor. Part XIX. (London: W. H. Collingridge.) This little publication is very much to our mind. This part contains four lectures on "True Spiritual Worship," and one lecture on Rev. xxii. 17. We like the plainness and simplicity of style adopted in its pages, and the pleasing and persuasive unction of gospel truth, with which it seems to abound.

Sunday and the Sabbath; or the Lord's Day of the Apostles compared with the Sabbath of Moses. By W. H. Johnstone, M.A., Chaplain of Addiscombe, &c., &c. (London: D. F. Oakey.) A calm and dispassionate view of the Sabbath question. The author endeavours to prove "that Sunday gradually grew into a Sabbath, while Saturday as gradually ceased from being observed in the Christian Church "; and we think that he has proved his point. The inference is plain "that a divine law like that of the Sabbath cannot be abrogated." We do not of course subscribe to all the arguments which he has employed to demonstrate his proposition; but we agree in some of them, and consequently in his conclusion. We have elsewhere, we think, employed a stronger argument for the observance of the Sabbath by all men, Christians, Jews, and Gentiles, than any he has adduced; but we rather like the way in which he makes the Jewish Sabbath slide into the Christian Sabbath.

Negative Theology: Analysis of the Letter of the Rev. Thomas Binney, addressed to the Congregational Union of England and Wales, &c., &c. By John Campbell, D.D. (W. H. Collingridge, London.) This may well be entitled “ Negative Theology," seeing there is no theology in it, but as the author says “a root of bitterness," whereby many are in danger of" being defiled." The personalities and private matters brought to light in this pamphlet, would have been more wisely buried in oblivion. The rule of the Christian church, Matt. xviii. 15-17, appears to have been forgotten by all parties. It is an old saying, "Save me from my friends"; this controversy suggests an improvement in it, namely, Save me from myself."

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Mr. Binney's Letter to the Members of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, &c., dc. (Ward and Co., London.) The following passage appears to us to be the best in this pamphlet, which is the fourth on the "Rivulet Controversy ": I think I have a right to speak about this painful controversy. I am one of the fifteen; I am the oldest of them; and my name has been printed in large letters to catch the public eye. I might rest something on these particulars; but I would only say that I, perhaps, can more freely and fittingly than some others, venture to utter those things which seem to me to require to be said. I wish, then, to say this, that I think there have been errors on all sides. Now, let us honestly put the matter so, and let us see whether we cannot come to a good understanding. In the first place, the author of the book erred. It was an error to call his poems hymns; and it is an error to use them as such in public worship. In the next place, there were errors on the part of the fifteen. It was an error to issue a protest at all; things had better been left to take their course. It was an error for the protest to say all it did, because some of it could be known only by those on peculiar terms of intimacy

with the person defended; and, further, there were words, if not expressions, somewhat incautious, to say the least."

Mr. Lynch still uses the pretended hymns in public worship, in his chapel!

The Watchman's Warning to the Churches: a Fearful View of those rapid ministerial declensions from the Truth, and the widespread of Arminian, Pelagian, and Socinian Heresies. By Veritas. (W. H. Collingridge, London.) There is a good deal of truth in this pamphlet; but it is couched in peculiar language. The reader must be acquainted with the technical phrases of theologians before he can thoroughly understand it; it should have been written in a plainer style, so "that he may run who readeth it." The view of the various modes of admission into heaven, delivered at p. 18, is, in our opinion, enough to frighten any poor man from attempting to get there. We always thought that God was no respecter of persons; but according to some, it seems to be the reverse in this matter! How different are the words of Christ, Matt. xi. 28–30; John vi. 37; and Rev. xxii. 17.

Notes of the Month.

THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

THE Controversy with this Society about its impure versions of the Bible, still continues. A pamphlet leaf has just been sent us, headed with the question, " Is not the British and Foreign Bible Society transformed into a Protestant and Popish Penance Society?" and containing a letter which lately appeared in "The London Monthly Review, and Record of the London Prophetical Society," from the pen of the Rev. James Kelly, dated Putney Heath. This paper states that, for some time past, corrupt versions of the Bible have been in circulation, on the continent in the German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese languages; and that these versions are circulated by the agents of the British and Foreign Bible Society; that this is done, not because sounder [query, sound] versions in these languages are not to be had, for they are in the Society's depository; but that the Committee advisedly and deliberately choose to use the corrupt versions in preference to the pure.

The defence set up by the Committee for this awful dereliction of their duty both to God and man, is the following, in their own words: "The Committee have sought to treat the subject as practical men-not as a body of learned Critics, to which they make no pretensions. They have selected and employed versions, as in their best judgment and in the fear of God, they have thought most adapted for circulation among the people immediately in view-seeking to be satisfied as to the general fidelity of each version, but not deeming it to be within their province to attempt any material alteration or correction." The paper referred to, very properly asks the following questions: "How can we circulate a lie although it be to bait the truth? Is it to be endured that the Word of God, of which the good providence of God has constituted England the chief dispenser to the world, shall be adulterated in its very elements, in the translations sent forth from Christendom's great Bible Society?"

MORMONISM.

"The beginning of the difficulties that will prove the destruction of the Mormon community, has appeared; the Supreme Court of Utah has decided that the organic act extends the common law over the territory; and the act, being of the nature of a constitution, the common law overrides all the statutes of the Mormon Legislature. The decision renders polygamy as illegal in the territory as it is in the States, and invalidates all the laws made by order of Brigham Young. As soon as his community, now possessing the license of isolation, comes into contact with the advancing population of the States, the Theocracy is doomed: it will have to be extinguished, as a social, even more than a political necessity, perhaps in blood. Two systems of law cannot exist side by side, and that which violates the principles on which all the civilized society of the world is founded, must disappear. Separation from the "Gentiles" cannot be kept up by men who are Gentile in race, and saints only by self-declaration; time will bring the ordinary world to

the Salt Lake, and then questions will arise which will demand either obedience to the common law of the United States, or resistance to it; and the latter will produce the history of the first Mormon settlement over again, only on a larger scale, with greater violence, and less choice of a desert to fly to."-Times.

THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

We have received a pamphlet, entitled "The Mission House Letter," containing a "Brief Review of Recent Proceedings," in relation to the Rev. Ebenezer Davies, of the Caledonian Road Chapel, and his accusers. We confess that we have read this pamphlet with mingled feelings of pain and grief. The attempt to crush a man and destroy his usefulness on an un. founded accusation, as this appears to be, cannot be too strongly reprobated. We entirely agree with the remarks of the Rev. Joseph Ketley on behalf of Mr. Davies, especially where he says:-"Not only have ecclesiastical nationalities become unall that is called God or that is worshipped'-but those purer popular, by reason of their proud self-exaltation, as if 'above combinations of Christian men, whose origin is referred to their pious repudiation of human assumptions of authority over conscience; and those societies and associations which have sprung from the loftiest motives and holiest aims for the present and future welfare of mankind; even they are but too apt to grow out of due proportion, they gradually depart from the practical exemplifications of their professed principles, and establish the adage to which observation has given rise-that 'huge ecclesiastical societies are huge tyrannies."" Without going into the particulars of this extraordinary case, we think the following challenge, if not accepted, will tell fearfully against a society which has hitherto stood very high in public estimation :—“I understand that some of the Directors of the Missionary Society are beginning to entertain serious doubts as to my having written the Mission House Letter. Let them, with their minds open to conviction, ponder well the facts stated in this pamphlet, and their doubts will soon become certainty of my innocence. Let them acknowledge that they may have been misled, and manfully withdraw the charge. By that means they will put an end at once to a most painful controversy, which otherwise will not terminate with even my life."

THE CONGREGATIONAL DIS-UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

"BEHOLD, how great a matter a little fire kindleth." Of these words, we are forcibly reminded by the present aspect of affairs in the "Congregational Union." The review of a little volume of poems called "The Rivulet," in the columns of a newspaper, has threatened the dissolution of the Union; and if the obstinacy of the opposite parties into which it has thus been divided, be not soon overcome, the doom of the Union is sealed. The late private meetings of the ministers of the body at the Milton Club, have, as we understand, not only failed to restore peace and union between the contending parties, but, as is often the case, separated them more than ever.

Printed leaves of bitterness are flying about, recriminations are multiplying, and strangers with no friendly aim are stepping in among the combatants. Mr. Lynch, the cause of all this controversy, has been harshly and unfairly handled by Dr. Campbell, and this has been resented in a style that brings no honour to the writers. Pamphlets are increasing so fast in number and in bitterness, that people will very soon get tired of the matter, if they are not so already; and then the combatants will stand in a very sorry plight before the public, both as men and as professing Christians.

If this controversy is not soon terminated, it will be advisable to go to the root of the disease, in the manner of Junius Secundus, who, in 1850, wrote that prophetic warning to the Congregational Dissenters of England and Wales, entitled "Congregational Dissent as it is and as it ought to be." His prophecies have been more than verified; and an article shewing their fulfilment, with a comment on the whole state of things as they now exist, after a lapse of six years, seems to be loudly called for. Such an article, from the pen of Junius Secundus himself, would tell with wonderful effect on the present rupture, and might tend to bring those combatants to reason, who seem to have forgot their duty to one another as Christians, and who are rending the body of Christ asunder by their unholy warfare.