(with little evident authority) St. John weeping. The last was probably by one of Leonardo's imitators. In the Aspinwall Gallery is a painting of our Saviour, claimed to be genuine, and a painting of a lady, executed in his style, if not by his hand. Mr. Jarvis, who has collected the Gallery of the Fine Arts with so much labor and expense, has a Madonna by Leonardo, the most valuable piece in his collection.

Da Vinci left fourteen folio volumes of drawings with notes attached. Contrary to the express terms of his will, they were scattered soon after his death, and one found its way to England.

Bartolozzi, Historical Engraver to the Crown, engraved a large number of these drawings in 1794-1806. The subjects are very miscellaneous, including portraits, single figures, caricatures, tilting horses and other animals, botany, optics, perspective, gunnery, hydraulics, mechanics, and a great variety of spirited anatomical studies. Many of the elegant heads were drawn with red and black chalks on red and blue paper, others executed with a metal point on tinted paper; a few are washed and then whitened with chalk, and many are on common paper, drawn with pen and ink. The chief attraction of this volume, however, is the profile copy of Da Vinci's head, drawn by himself. It is one of the most perfect and symmetrical heads that art has recorded, and indicates the high endowments of his mind. A copy of this volume of engravings is one of the most interesting works in the Astor library.

To claim that Leonardo possessed no faults would be saying that he was more than human. He was keenly sensitive to dishonorable treatment, and could not submit to neglect or indignity even from so high a functionary as the Pope. He was also inclined at times to be empirical, and to this undoubtedly is owing the destruction of some of his paintings. That some of his projects were too grand to be executed in those turbulent times is rather a compliment than otherwise to the breadth and scope of his views. But when we consider his versatile genius, and the perfection to which he carried everything he undertook, we may say again that "we cannot apply to him the tests of ordinary genius," and that "he was without doubt the greatest man in the fifteenth century."

FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XIII.-37

ART. III.-IS THE MODERN CAMP-MEETING A

FAILURE?

THE strongest advocate of the modern camp-meeting would hardly appeal to any explicit scriptural command, or to any exact scriptural example, in support of his preference. A regularly attested biblical paternity that institution can never claim. The "tented grove," with its wealth of memories, so dear and sacred to the hearts of thousands, is nowhere mentioned in the word of God. It had no existence until centuries after the last book of inspiration had enriched the world. Its very origin was providential if not fortuitous, and its subsequent recognition as a religious instrumentality has wholly resulted from its supposed efficiency in this respect.

But in this concession we by no means include the whole question of Scriptural precedent. The essential features of the modern institution find a strong parallel in the ancient "Feast of Tabernacles," as described in the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, and in the eighth of Nehemiah. This will be recognized as a solemn religious festival, divinely appointed in the time of Moses, to commemorate the goodness of God in the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, and in their miraculous preservation during their sad and weary wanderings. Its character, therefore, was purely religious, and its sole object the promotion of a deeper piety in the hearts of the people. By express command seven days were set apart, and to each was definitely assigned its appropriate duty. For public ministrations, the people assembled in the open air, but lodged in tents, or "booths," hastily erected for the purpose. The law of God was daily read to the congregation by an authorized interpreter, or "scribe," whose office bore a close analogy to that of the modern preacher. A glimpse of the manner in which this duty was performed is afforded in a passage not immediately relating to the solemnity in question. "So they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." That a thorough analysis or exposition of the text accompanied the reading is, according to Dr. Clarke, implied in the original. The effect

was very impressive and striking. "For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law." And even when the preliminary ascription of praise was rendered, by the officiating scribe, to "the Lord, the great God," "all the people answered Amen, amen, with lifting up their hands, and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground."

We now ask if every essential particular to which we have alluded is not effectually reproduced in the modern camp-meeting? Now, as then, several days are set apart, and especially devoted to the solemnities of the occasion. Tents or booths take the place of ordinary abodes, and, so far as practicable, all “servile work" is suspended. From the "pulpit of wood," the law of God is read to the gathered multitude, the same glorious word of duty and of promise, yet with priceless accessions to the volume of the ancient record. The "thunders of Sinai" are re-echoed in the living voice that is lifted up "like a trumpet" to "show the people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins." And from Calvary's sacred summit now resounds that inspiring evangel of peace and redemption, for which the longing ear of king and of prophet vainly listened. No wonder if the great truth of all time, which to the ancient worshiper lay vailed amid the mystic draperies of prophecy, now thrills the hearts of the people, while with the same responses that then broke the silence of attention, and with kindred tears of penitence or of hope, thousands bend the knee and worship.

That no great national event is commemorated in these annual gatherings, has little to do with the analogy we have demonstrated. Their salient characteristic is their religious element. The promotion of a more deep and general piety is their only intention. To familiarize the people with the word of God, to inspire a readier obedience to his will, and to confirm the faith, and quicken the life of the Church, is the golden principle, without which both they and their famous Jewish prototype would have been only meaningless parades. Upon the most exalted basis, therefore, rests the parallel between the modern institution and its time-honored predecessor.

But a direct precedent in the word of God is not indispens-. able to our purpose. An essentially religious and scriptural

enterprise need not always claim an exact original in the sacred volume. Its true character is determined by higher considerations. A practice that accords with the obvious spirit of revelation, that tends to the promotion of its sublime objects, and to the enforcement of its eternal truths, may be really more scriptural than a hundred others which are arbitrarily founded upon its mere letter. This is pre-eminently true of the Sabbath-school, the religious press, and several minor auxiliaries of Christian effort of which neither patriarch nor apostle ever dreamed. Though unfortified by a shadow of scriptural precedent, very few will question their close agreement with the exalted principles and purposes of inspiration.

That the modern camp-meeting is fully entitled to the latter distinction will, we think, be apparent from the following considerations:

1. It affords unparalleled facilities for the dissemination of religious truth. It attracts a larger assemblage of people than any other form of Christian effort, and a more extended variety of characters and conditions is represented. Every campground is regularly thronged with irreligious persons, a large proportion of whom never think of entering a house of worship, nor of opening a religious publication. And it is very probable that the motives which in the present case induce their attendance, may fail to bear a very searching inquiry. These will naturally be characteristic of the individuals composing the assembly. The laborer may seek only a healthful and agreeable respite from his toil. The idle and the trifling may anticipate only a more easy and speedy flight of the dragging hours. A prurient and vulgar curiosity may foresee a brief gratification in the varied appearance and movements of so motley a multitude. A discontented spirit may crave the transient stimulus afforded in a temporary change of scene and of experience. And the dissolute and the vicious may discern in the consecrated grove only a hotbed of crazy fanaticism, and a favorable opening for rampant rowdyism, while only a small miniority may be influenced by any serious thought of spiritual benefit. But in the very assemblage thus secured an incalculable advantage is afforded to the cause of religion, for hundreds then listen to the word of God whom otherwise no persuasion could have beguiled within the sound of its echoes.

And, from the nature of the case, this condition of things is very likely to be permanent. Their infrequency and the brief duration of these gatherings, the varied and spirited proceedings and other striking features, whereby they are widely distinguished from the ordinary modes of worship, naturally tend to perpetuate the public interest in their recurrence. And to these important considerations may be added the confirming testimony of a single fact. Two railroad companies in New England have, within a very few years, voluntarily offered large sums to secure the location of camp-grounds conveniently near their respective lines. And this liberality in neither case resulted from any professed sympathy for the religious objects contemplated, but from the expectation of pecuniary profit in transporting at half the usual rates the thousands who would probably crowd their trains. And in the autumn of 1860, when, only about three weeks before the time of meeting, an incendiary fire upon one of these encampments destroyed the "preacher's house," with many hundred dollars' worth of tent covers and other property, a handsome proportion of the loss was promptly made up by the company more immediately interested.

2. It affords a more complete exemption than any other spiritual auxiliary from the ordinary impediments to Christian effort. The pressure of domestic cares, the exciting details of business, and kindred causes, often paralyze the most energetic of the means commonly employed. By a large majority of even respectable church-goers, the lessons and the impressions of one Sabbath are wholly forgotten before the dawning of another. Ample congregations may throng the temple, bold and impressive eloquence may enforce the truths of inspiration, thoughtful countenances and moistened eyes may attest an honest conviction of duty, and even the soft and muffled tread of retiring feet may indicate the solemn reflections which the sacred utterances of the hour have awakened. But how soon does the cold and unsympathizing atmosphere of the outer world chill this generous warmth of emotion. How powerfully rushes in the swelling tide of secular influence to drown these hallowed impressions. And when at the Sabbath's end the whole world throbs again with the mighty pulsations of its renewed activity, the sad result is hourly accelerated until not