have run mad, and the stories they relate of the open-handedness of their Hatems and 'Antars would, in our times, consign these worthies to an asylum; but still they are a valuable index of traits of character, which shortly afterwards made them formidable to the selfish and low-spirited nations whom they attacked.

The religious belief of the Pre-Islamic Arabs was of a varied and unsettled character. Paganism prevailed to a considerable extent, but always in a minority, and restricted to particular tribes, while the general bent of the nation has always been to monotheism. On this account both Judaism and Christianity gained many adherents, though the genius of either was not native to the Arab character. A good many tribes, including a part of the Koreish, were true deists, or rather eclectics, from the different faiths; and Mohammed, like other great founders, seems to have but given a definite shape to tendencies long anterior to himself. Yet it is impossible not to admire the dexterity with which he took advantage of the very diversity of Arab beliefs, to develop a single consistent system, so adapted to Arabic traits and tastes, as to carry the whole race with it. From the pagans he adopted with little change the festivals and pilgrimages which had become customs, and which the people would never exchange for any number of theological dogmas, and in the Koran we have a conglomerate of Sabean superstitions, Talmudical traditions, Monkish legends, and New Testament quotations, made to support a short and intelligible creed, far better adapted to a summary people, than the discordant doctrines of the general councils of that age. But above all, the Bedouin had now the privilege of being extremely religious, without mortifying his flesh and its lusts. The votaries of no other faith seem half so devout as Moslems. Passing through the crowded bazaar, you hear on one side a loud call that God is bountiful, and turning, find the preacher has bread to sell. Another ejaculation, "How merciful is Allah!" advertises a mule load of grapes, but alas! while the stranger may think himself in a remarkably well attended business-men's prayer meeting, a longer acquaintance proves that although not hypocrites, yet none can be farther removed than they from

saints. There was a freeness also in the offer of Arab delights in Paradise, to all who would but believe in one God, and help fight, that captivated a warlike and sensuous people, for religion never suggests to an Oriental a narrow and uncomfortable path, leading through the Valley of Humiliation and up the Hill Difficulty, but rather a great vessel, which will carry all that are in it, despite their various characters, to the same haven. Nothing also could have been more favorable to the spread of Islamism, than the state of Christianity in the East. The contentions of the hierarchy for power, the many heresies and violent persecutions in the church, was accompanied in society by a total lack of all moral life, which all history teaches is the only real strength of peoples. Licentiousness and treachery were the features of those evil times, when the words simplicity and honesty had lost their honorable meaning. While Oriental Christianity was falling to pieces, Mohammed arose to attack the world with the first union of the great race of Ishmael. Should all the divisions of the Teutonic peoples in our day be suddenly obliterated by a mighty and aggressive movement, equally moral and political, the effect on the civilized world would transcend calculation; and yet this would still be but imperfectly analogous to the great movement of the seventh century. At that time the aggressors were a daring and simple people, faithful to their word, and keenly alive to their sense of honor, in fact, with many great traits of character, and now fired by a new, as well as the most powerful of principles, while those they attacked were actuated by no principle save a cowardly selfishness. Nations, like elements in chemistry, seem to display the most energetic action just as they enter into new combinations, which at the time set free in its nascent state, the vigor of the race. Certainly the age of Mohammed seemed the culminating development of the Arab stock, for at no other juncture has a people produced such a remarkable body of men as the Friends of the Prophet, as they are styled, and to whose wonderful skill and daring, Islamism owes its spread, for Mohammed himself scarcely lived to see Arabia alone become Moslem. The conquest of Egypt by 'Amr ibn el 'As, has been paralleled only by that of Hernando

Cortez, while the first four caliphs, 'Abu Beer, 'Omar, 'Othman, and the heroic 'Ali, and the great generals Khaled ibn el Waleed, and Abu 'Obeida, besides many other conquerors of empires, could have been produced only by a remarkable and energetic people.

But, alas! what a sore judgment was the rise of the Islam, to the great Apostolic church of the East! No age of Reformation was in store for it; but for twelve centuries it has been literally trodden under foot of men, for few in the happy West have any conception of the bitterness of life under the yoke of Islam. Some, whose experience of Islamism is derived from a hotel window in Cairo, or while gliding in a caique on the Bosphorus, talk of the great Arabian prophet and reformer, but a more preposterous assertion cannot be made, than that Islamism is better than even the worst form of Christianity that has ever existed. It was but yesterday that in the one city of Damascus, unoffending men, women, and children were burnt alive and murdered, with outrages which cannot be mentioned, and in numbers greater than ever fell in the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and absolutely for no reason but that they were called by the name of Jesus of Nazereth. Let Britain, for the sake of her policy, support the Turk and hide the truth, as she will for her own ends support and advocate anything, but let no one else put faith in Moslem reform, or seek the perpetuity of Moslem government, for Islamism is no better than the Christianity which it was sent to scourge, than the idolaters of Babylon were better than their captive Hebrews.

ARTICLE II.-THE HEBREW WORSHIPER.

HAVING been, for some time, associated in a Bible class of intelligent adults, meeting weekly for the study of the Scriptures, in which the portion under consideration has been the Epistle to the Hebrews-as we have followed along, step by step, the line of that minute and exhaustive argument, by which the Apostle establishes a living connection between the Old Testament and the New-the ritual of Moses and the gospel of Christ, a question perpetually recurring has been, how far Christ was actually developed and known as a person in this ancient worship?—to what degree was he really present to the pious Jew, in his public and private approaches unto God? The diversity of opinions on this theme prevailing within this one little circle; the very different ideas and conceptions of the range and office of Christ, in these ceremonial services, thus brought to light, have led us to conclude that the subject is worthy of a more close and careful attention than it has generally received.

From the suggestions thus made comes our present purpose, which is to show, as well as we can, what were the internal elements of Jewish worship. We say internal elements, because our object is not at all to dwell upon the ceremonial usages themselves, except so far as they guide us to the inward thoughts and feelings of the worshiper. We wish to discover, if we can, in what state of mind and heart the reverent and pious Jew came unto God; of mind, as respects knowledge of divine things, and more particularly of the way of salvation; of heart, as indicating the emotions and feelings which were then present in all true and acceptable worship. This two-fold distinction will be kept in view through the whole range of our examination, though technically the first part is the one to which our inquiries will be principally directed. For the real point before us now primarily relates to knowledge. How did the Jew look at the scheme by which God offered him pardon

and salvation? How perfectly did he comprehend the nature of that scheme? How fully did that Divine person, around whom this plan of salvation centers, come into his view? How far was he able and how much was he inclined, in his hours of worship, to look beyond his own ritual service, and bring before him, by faith, the reality of Christ as he is known unto us?

These are questions which will reveal to the Christian reader the main purpose of this Article. And in writing upon a topic like this, it is pleasant to reflect that it is one to which every thoughtful Christian has already given some attention, and upon which he has formed some general opinion. The topic lies so openly in the path of every reader of the Bible that it cannot be overlooked. And yet, it is true on many points like this, about which we think often, we do not think closely and consecutively. We allow our minds to rest in half-formed opinions, so that if suddenly called upon to answer questions like those now propounded, we might find it difficult to do so to our own satisfaction, or to the satisfaction of others.

The point to be considered has, perhaps, been made sufficiently plain in the foregoing statement, but in order to disabuse the mind of any false impressions, and to clear the main drift of our reasoning from any irrelevant issues, it may be well here to set aside certain collateral questions which might seem to be involved in this general statement, that the argument may thus be narrowed down and limited to its simplest condition.

(1.) The question then is not how far Christ was actually in the Old Testament system as its living Head and vitalizing force.

On this point we concede all that any one can wish to claim. The scheme of Redemption, as conceived in the councils of eternity, is one reaching over all ages and times, and Christ is the center of that scheme. Without Him, the system is inoperative and dead everywhere. With Him, it is full of life and energy in all places and at all times, from the fall of Adam to the end of the world, wherever and whenever a sinful man is found in a state of conscience and heart adapted to receive its benefits. Christ was the procuring cause of salvation to the