with dependence on divine teaching, is | Thessalonica, because they not only received the word with all readiness of mind, but searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so (Acts xvii. 11). set forth by doctrine, precept, promise, and example, as the means which God has approved and blessed for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of his will. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good work" (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). "If any man have ears to hear," said our Lord repeatedly, "let him hear." "Take heed how ye hear, for whosoever hath to him shall be given, and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have" (Luke viii. 18). "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him" (James i. 5). The Bereans were said to be more noble than those in Let those of us, then, who differ, consent to try our opinions by the word of God, both in private, and when holding intercourse one with another, with the earnest desire that we may all "approve the things which are excellent" (Phil. i. 10). In the use of such means we may feel confident that our love will be increased; and that, as the Apostle prayed on behalf of the Philippians, "it will abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment" (Phil. i. 9). And we shall rejoice if we both know and do the will of Christ more perfectly: we shall rejoice, for he that hath his commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth him (John xiv. 21). MISCELLANEA. ECLIPSE OF THE MOON. contact with the visible Moon. Perhaps at twenty-nine minutes after eight, the twilight may be too strong for some eyes to see Mercury go behind the dark ON Tuesday morning, April the 10th, an eclipse of the moon will begin at thirty-two minutes after mid-night, clock time at Greenwich. At fifty-border of the moon, he being previously nine minutes after one, will be the middle of the eclipse, when seven digits and a quarter of the moon's diameter, will be covered, her whole breadth being always twelve digits. After this time the eclipse will decrease till its end, at twenty-six minutes after three. close to her eastern or left limb, and rather more than half way from the top towards the bottom. Before nine o'clock, however, our young friends should be doubly on the alert, as at only two minutes after nine, Mercury, so seldom seen, will come from behind the Moon at the lowest part of the crescent, Mercury himself being brighter than any star of the first magnitude, visible at the same time. For more than a week after this time, Mercury may be seen near the same place, hovering over the horizon in the west, and more towards the north-west, till the 7th or 8th of May. D HOURS AT PASSOVER AND PENTECOST, A.D. 33. In the days of the prophets and apostles, no clock gave a tongue to time, but every nation had its dial in the skies, and every man's watch was his shadow. Under such circumstances, the sun due south, and the shortest shadow, announced noon; and midnight was proclaimed by the starry heavens whenever a luminary, 180 degrees from the sun in right ascension, was on the meridian of the spectator. Nay, even a child knew the commencement of the first hour of the night, by a glance at the setting sun; and by a view of sunrise, he perceived the termination of the twelfth hour. Thus, though nature gave hours of various lengths, yet, whenever the sun set at six, "the third hour of the night," mentioned in Acts xxiii. 23, began at eight, and ended at nine. "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" said the Saviour; and the distribution of these hours may be learned from Matt. xx., where the labourers described in ver. 12, as having "worked one hour," are said, in ver. 9, to have been "hired at the eleventh hour." When, therefore, the twelve hours from sunrise to sunset, were equinoxial hours, like those shewn by modern sun-dials, the third hour mentioned in Matt. xx. 3, was nine in the morning by the sun, and the ninth hour spoken of in ver. 5, was three in the afternoon, while the sixth hour, mentioned in the same verse, was noon, every day of the year. When the sun causes a globular body, on an unruffled lake, to project a shadow to the apparent hemisphere below, we behold, on a large scale, what the earliest sun-dials were in miniature; the daily course of the shadow in both instances, being precisely the sun's track reversed. Inasmuch too, as the shadow on the concave metal, or stone dial, described arcs, which were divided into twelve equal parts, at every season of the year, we see a second reason for temporary hours finding their way among the ancient nations. Hence recorded eclipses and occultations observed in different countries from 721 years before the Christian era, till after the days of the Apostles, are at variance with our modern astronomical tables, if we reckon all the recorded hours sixty minutes each; but when we take such hours as twelfth parts of the time of the sun's presence or absence respectively, the observations at Babylon, Alexandria, Athens, Rome, &c. are in striking accordance with the wonderful discoveries of our own times. The writings of Philo, Josephus, Phlegon; and of the four evangelists. serve conjointly to show, that our Lord was crucified on Friday, April the 3rd, in the year 33. On the morning of that day, at forty-six minutes, and sixteen seconds after five, apparent time at Jerusalem, the sun's centre rose at that city; when, in the language of John xix. 14, it was "about the sixth hour" from the midnight, with which the Roman day of the Passover began. At fifty-three minutes after eight was the third hour after sunrise, the hour at which, (according to Mark xv. 25,) the Saviour was nailed to the cross. At twelve o'clock, or the sixth hour, of the day, the noontide sun became "black as sackcloth of hair," not for seven minutes and fifty-one seconds only, as in the greatest possible duration of a total eclipse, but for more than three hours, even till the ninth hour, at seven minutes after three, which ninth hour, is mentioned in connexion with the sixth, in Matt. xxvii. 45; Mark xv. 33; and Luke xxiii. 44. That the three hours' darkness was not the effect of a solar eclipse, which always happens at the new moon, is further evident, by the moon being full at sixteen minutes after five. Nay, so far from the sun and moon being in contact, the sun set at fourteen minutes and thirteen seconds after six, and two | invent dogmas and then go to Scripture minutes afterwards the moon rose in order to prove them. eclipsed, two digits and fifty-five minutes, which decreasing eclipse ended at thirty-eight minutes after six, on the said Friday evening. Sunday, April the 5th, was what is called in Lev. xxiii. 15, "the morrow after the Sabbath," and early on this Lord's day, the Saviour rose from the dead. Sunday, May the 24th* was what is called in Lev. xxiii. 16, "the morrow after the seventh Sabbath," and on this Lord's day was the ever memorable outpouring of the Spirit. "It is better to run all lengths with Scripture truth in a natural and open manner than to shift, and twist, and accommodate. Straightforward conduct may draw against us bitterness and rancour for a time, but sweetness will come out of it. Every single truth is a light of itself, and every error, however minute, is darkness as far as it goes. Though there is much divine forbearance with human errors, every error is something contrary to the Divine glory and honour; to these truth, and truth only, is that which conforms. Here then is an argument for prizing the most simple truths as invaluable jewels. The word Pentecost, means fiftieth, and Lord's day, April the 5th, being the first day of the series, the fiftieth day "He who professes nothing more of that series was Lord's Day, May the than what is agreed to by his party, 24th, on which day the sun rose at may proceed unopposed, though he dethree minutes and fifty seconds after fend it with novel arguments, stronger five in the morning, and set in the or weaker, of his own, or with arguevening at fifty-six minutes and thirty-ments borrowed or deduced from any one seconds after six, apparent time at novel system of others. But he who Jerusalem. conscientiously and simply, for the truth's sake,' endeavours to make further advances in the knowledge and confession of the truth, must not expect to be exempt from trials and tempt Thus, the THIRD HOUR of the day began at twenty-three minutes after seven in the morning, and terminated at thirty-two minutes after eight, the latest point of time to which Peter could re-ations. For, if his attention respect fer, when he said, "These are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the THIRD HOUR of the day" (Acts ii. 15). the things taught, rather than the persons who teach, so that he cannot suffer himself to be influenced by any respect of persons, it will be impossible for him to avoid giving offence in one way or another. This, at least, has been my own experience. "Every divine communication carries (like the diamond) its own light with it, thus shewing from whence it comes. No touchstone is required to discriminate it. It comes, indeed, with additional and more immediate demonstration of the Spirit to the faith of him who receives it cordially; but its general demonstration is given as a precious deposit to the church at large, and abides as such in the written word."Bengel. "All positive precepts, that depend upon the will of God, which ought always to be obeyed when it can, and when it cannot, nothing can supply it, because the reason of it cannot be understood. All positive precepts that depend upon the mere will of the lawgiver, admit no degrees, nor suppletory and commutation, because in such laws we see nothing beyond the words of the law, and the first meaning, and the named instance; and therefore it is that in individuo which God points at, it is that in which he will make the trial of our obedience; it is that in which he will so perfectly be obeyed, that he will not be disputed with or enquired of why and how, but just according to the measures there set down; so, and no more, and no less, and no otherwise. For, when the will of the lawgiver is all the reason, the first instance of the law is all the measure, and there can be no product but what is just set down. No parity of reason can infer anything else; because there is no reason but the will of God, to which nothing can be equal, because his will can be but one."-Bp. Taylor. POETRY. THE EUCHARIST. Oh! 'twas a calm, a solemn hour, And Oh! 'tis sweet, with one accord, When God shall wipe each tear away, While sin is mourned with inward smart; Is by the "Balm of Gilead" healed! One hallowed bond our hearts unite, And need no more these means of grace! 21 REVIEWS. I. A Review of Professor Stuart on baptism, is by no means surprising, because not only "to err is human," but, on this disputed point, the access to truth has been rendered difficult by the accumulations of learned trifling, and the introduction of so much that is perfectly irrelevant to the subject in question. On the article of baptism, however, Mr. Judd has elaborately traversed the windings and sinuosities of the Professor, and has, in our opinion, entirely demolished the fair fabric which the latter had constructed to enshrine the unscriptural rite of infant sprinkling. 66 mail In this able work, on baptism, Mr. THE progress of error, through every Judd treats principally of the period of its prevalence, has been greatly ner of the rite," the "importance of facilitated by the splendour of names, the rite," and the " relative order of and the admixture of truth. Neither the rite." It is chiefly in reference to of these separately would be sufficient the last of the three branches, in this to produce or sustain the popularity to division, that we would here solicit the which error not unfrequently attains. attention of our readers. From the It is the plated surface which deceives commission of the Saviour to the the unskilful, and obtains currency for Apostles, the author argues the priority the counterfeit, but when subjected to of baptism to communion, which he the authorized test its baseness is de- illustrates by the uniform practice of tected, and “reprobate silver shall men the primitive church, and confirms by call it." When the departure from the approbation expressed in relation to truth is complete, error, unaccompa- those who kept the ordinances as they nied by its principal attraction, is much were delivered. He then satisfactorily less likely to secure acceptance; and if answers the usual objections introduced happily it should, at the same time, be by those who are adverse to perpetudestitute of erudite or elegant patron-ating the uniformity of this scriptural age, the probability of its expiring from sheer neglect is much greater than that its removal should be the result of elaborate refutation. practice. The last of these objections Which is answered as follows: "Finally, you DO unite with Pedobaptists in various Christian exercises, in prayer and On both sides the Atlantic the writ-praise, and preaching the gospel, and in a ings of Professor Stuart are held in de- variety of benevolent institutions ;" servedly high respect; for,notwithstanding the controversy to which certain of his positions have been exposed, his critical acumen is acknowledged to be considerable. That he should have signally failed, however, as, in our judgment, he certainly has, on the subject of Undoubtedly we do; but what then? None of these exercises are peculiar to church-fellowship. They are incumbent upon us in our individual capacity, whether we are connected with a Christian church or not. It is a mistake to suppose that we consider the absence of baptism as a disqualification for the Lord's Supper only. |