tom of your repugnance, or of your indecision, an element of false shame-the reproach of the cross, which frowns upon the timid Christian, in many aspects, and from many different quarters—which prevents his venturing anything, even in the cause of Christ,-even where disappointment itself will occasion no real loss can you think yourself justified in still delaying to do so-in delaying to obey the Saviour's command to manifest Christian union-to forward His dying prayer for its establishment to add your mite to the contributions of the Christian Treasury-to join your individual strength to the combined efforts of your brethren to attain holy results, and to exert a hap--and where a slight success may be py influence over society? fraught with untold and eternal blessH. R. Take care that there be not, at the bot- ings. ROMISH SUPERSTITIONS. THE ADORATION OF THE CROSS IN "I attended early. The number of spectators or worshippers was very small, and at no period of the day exceeded forty persons, exclusive of the officials of the court. As I was one of the first in the chapel, I secured a most desirable position for observation. The chapel was stripped of all its accustomed hangings, the altar stood without its rich cloth, divested of its usual display of silver and gold,-bare, cold, and naked. The throne was stripped of its splendour, and looked as if laid by in some-store house, the benches of the Cardinals were cold and bare, the floor was left without its carpet, no candles burned on the altar, no torches blazed as usual on the screen; all seemed dull and dark, and all this was designed to represent the mourning and desolation of the Church at the crucifixion of Jesus. In the authorized offices of the Holy Week,' it is stated, that' at the reading of the lesson and prayers, the candles are not lighted, in order to express the darkness that covered the earth at the death of Jesus Christ; and the altar is without its coverings, to represent the nakedness of the Redeemer on the Cross." On the previous day the plaintive strains of the miserere were intended to shadow forth the agonies of Jesus Christ. On the same day the office of Tenebræ, with the gradual extinction of candle after candle on the altar, was intended to represent the miraculous darkness that covered the land at His death; and now, on this day, the sorrow and desolation of the church was to be yet farther represented by the desolate appearance of the Sistine chapel, without carpets, without silver, without gold, without candles, without torches, without any of its usual decorations. In order to carry out this design, the cardinals entered robe in purple,- the mourn ing colour for cardinals. From their cloaks to their stockings, all was purple. The bishops entered, having exchanged their purple stockings for black,-their appropriate colour for mourning; all were attired as at a solemn funeral; and all seemed consistently chill and comfortless. "The services of the day, the lessons, the tracts, the psalms, and the prayers, may be found in the Uffizio della Settimana Santa,' published by authority, but too long for insertion here. The Pope was not present at the commencement of these services, but entered before the sermon. A monk approached the throne of the Pope soon after his entrance, and on his knees asked a blessing for himself, and craved an indulgence for others. His request was granted, and he entered the pulpit and preached a sermon of seven minutes duration; and sitting down, he again arose and read publicly the form of indulgence for thirty years and thirty quaterns. The following is the rubric: "He approaches the throne, and bending on his knees without kissing the foot, demands the usual indulgence of thirty years and as many quaterns, which he pub lishes after the sermon in the usual form.' "A quatern is forty days, so that thirty of these being added to the thirty years, the indulgence is one of thirty years and twelve hundred days. "The great ceremony of the day then commences. "A cross made of wood stands upon the altar. It is enveloped in a black veil. The deacon hands it to the officiating Cardinal. He, standing with his back to the altar and his face to the people, holds the cross before the eyes of the congregation, Then loosening the black veil which envelopes it, he uncovers one arm of the cross-pauses-holds it conspicuously be fore the congregation, and exclaims with easiness in his manner; there was disa loud voice, "Behold the wood of the Cross!' "And the response bursts from the choir, "Come, let us adore it!' "And immediately the Pope, the Cardinals, and all present kneel and adore it, and then resume their seats. Again, the officiating Cardinal uncovers the second arm of the pauses-exclaims as before "Behold the wood of the Cross!' "And the response again bursts from the choir, 66 satisfaction in his face; and his whole appearance was that of a man who was obliged to act against his conscience, in complying with a custom of the Church. Having conducted the Pope to the end of the chapel, they turned and faced the cross, which lay on the floor near the steps of the altar. There they made him kneel and adore it. They raised him, and cross-conducting him some two or three paces nearer, they again made him kneel a second time and adore the cross. Then again they raised him, and leading him nearer still, they again the third time made him kneel and adore the cross. Here at the cross they raised him, and then again he knelt; then rose again, and then knelt again. Prostrate before it -on knees and hands, he kissed it, and, according to custom, left an hundred scudi of gold as an offering beside it. He was afterwards conducted to his throne and robed, while the most exquisite music from the choir accompanied the whole. ceremony. "Come, let us adore it!' "And, as before, the Pope, the Cardinals, and all present kneel and adore it, and then resume their seats. "Again, the officiating Cardinal uncovers the whole cross-pauses-and exclaims as before "Behold the wood of the Cross!' "And the reponse again bursts from the choir, "Come, let us adore it!' "And immediately the Pope, the Cardinals, and all present kneel and adore it a third time. "All this was painful enough to me, yet it proved only the beginning of sorrows. There was a solemnity--a silence, a stillness in all, which, combined with the appearance of the chapel, made it very impressive; and this very impressiveness it was that made all so painful. "The Cardinal with his assistants left the altar, and placed the cross on a cushion, on the floor of the chapel, a few paces from the steps of the altar, and retired. "And here the ceremony commenced indeed. Two or three Cardinals approached the Pope, they stripped off his splendid robes, they removed his glittering mitre, they took off his embroidered shoes, they laid aside his spangled gloves, till he stood before his throne without one emblem of his royal or papal office. There stood the old man, bare-headed and bare-footed, and stripped till he seemed to retain little else than a loose white dressing-gown,-the dress of a monk of Camaldoli. There he stood, not alone, as if the act were a voluntary humiliation, but in the hands of the Cardinals, who, intending to help him and uphold him, seemed to be his guards to force and compel him. There the old man, no longer looking like a Pope, descended from the throne, and seemed like one led away to be punished, or to do penance. I could not help thinking that the old man was, in a great measure, an unwilling actor in this scene; there was much ur "When this is completed by the Pope, the same act is performed by each of the cardinals, all without shoes, adoring aud kissing the cross. These are followed by the bishops, heads of orders, &c., all adoring it in like manner, and all making to it an offering of money. "The Deacons then spread the cloth on the altar, light the candles, and reverently place the cross, no longer on the floor, but on the altar amidst the candlesticks. "Such is THE ADORATION OF THE CROSS-An act of worship that moved me intensely, infinitely more than anything I had witnessed at Rome. It was an act the most solemn and impressive, and bore every characteristic of IDOLATRY." RELICS. "A view and careful examination of the relics-I must honestly confess itnot only confirmed every evil suspicion previously entertained, but seemed to me to establish beyond a doubt the very worst. I had ever read, charging the system with folly, with imposture and superstition, so as completely to annihilate every feeling in my mind that could previously have found an apology for the system. I had hoped for better things, but the disappointment was complete. "A consideration of these relics cannot but suggest a great variety of reflections to minds of different characters. A bottle of the milk of the Virgin Mary will suggest a feeling of disgust at the coarseness or indecency of those who manufacture it, rather than of reverence. A bottle of the blood of Jesus Christ will excite a feeling of horror at those who could practice so sacrilegious an imposture, rather than one of devotion. A piece of the chemise of the Virgin Mary, will create no other sensation than a feeling of indignation, at the indelicacy of the monks and friars who handle it. The transverse beam of the cross of the thief crucified with our Lord, is more likely to elicit a smile at its absurdity, than a feeling of veneration for the wood. While the abiding conviction on the mind of every man-every man without exception-that all are gross, impudent, and audacious impostures, especially the bottle of the milk of Mary, and the bottle of the blood of Christ-must give rise to most distressing and painful feeings. "The very sight of them awakens feelings of hatred and loathing, rather than feelings of love and veneration. The thorns that pierced the brows of our Lord -the nails that pierced His hands and feet-the spear that entered His side the cross on which St. Andrew died-the stone that killed St. Stephen-the scourge that scourged our Lord:-these all are relics, even if authentic, more calculated to elicit repugnance than reverence. There are others, as a piece of one of the stones of the house of the Virgin Mary; a fragment of the seat on which our Lord sat when forgiving Mary Magdalen; a fraction of the place where our Lord was scourged; a splinter of the stone where the angel stood when announcing His message to the Virgin; a piece of the stone on which our Lord rested, after His forty days' fasting, on the Mount; a fragment from the spot whence our Lord ascended from the Mount of Olives;-these all are relics that may very reasonably awaken a smile, as, even if true, they are but objects of curiosity rather than of devotion; but the thorns that pierced the brows of Christ; the cross on which Andrew died; the stone that killed Stephen,-are, if true and authentic, objects of dislike and abhorrence, rather than of veneration and devotion. "On the whole, therefore, it may be observed, that the relics preserved in the Churches of Rome, whether authentic or otherwise, have nothing in them to answer that love of memorials of the dead which is so natural among men. They usually awaken a smile at their absurdity -a repugnance at their uses-or a shudder at their sacrilegiousness; but never, in a single instance, did they awaken in my breast a feeling of reverence or devotion. This may have been a great and serious defect in my spiritual state; and if so, I pray that God may forgive me. But I am bound to state the fact. "And now for the exhibition of the greater relics. "At one end of the Church of Santa Croce there is a small gallery, capable of holding three or four persons. In this appeared the bishop in full canonicals, with mitre and alb. On either hand stood a priest; on these three every eye in the vast assembly was fixed; one priest rung a bell, then the other handed one of the relics to the bishop; and he, reverently receiving it, exhibited it to the assembled multitude, the priest announcing with a loud voice "The finger of St. Thomas, the Apostle and Martyr of our Lord Jesus Christ." "The bishop then presented the relic, said to be the very finger with which the unbelieving Thomas touched our Lord's side! He held it, according to the invariable custom in exhibiting relics, right before him, then turning it to those on the right, then to those on the left, then again to those immediately before him. He then kissed the glass case which contained the finger, and returned it to the priest. "Another relic was then produced, and placed in the hands of the bishop, and the priest, as before, announced "Two thorns from the crown of thorns of our Lord Jesus Christ.' "The bishop exhibited this as before, and it was easy to see in the glass case the two thorns set and standing erect, each thorn being about three inches long. He then kissed the case, and returned it to the priest. "A third relic was next produced, it was presented reverently by the priest, and was received as reverently by the bishop, the priest announcing "The tablet with the inscription over the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.' "The bishop exhibited this relic as the others; the characters in Greck, and Hebrew, and Latin, though very dark and large, were very far from being easily legible, and the tablet itself seemed rather small for the occasion. It was about nine or ten inches in length, and about five in depth;-the bishop also kissed this relic, and returned it to the priest. "A fourth relic was next placed in the hands of the bishop, and as he exhibited it the priest proclaimed "One of the nails that fastened to the cross our Lord Jesus Christ.' "This relic was a very showy affair, being enclosed in a very pretty glass and gold case. In the centre was a black thing, said to be the nail, with two angels made of gold, kneeling and worshipping it! It was exhibited, kissed, and then returned to the priest."-Seymour. Notices of Books. Daily Bible Illustrations. By JoHN KITTO, D.D. Solomon and the Kings. October - December. Edinburgh: Oliphant, 1851. In our notices of the previous volumes of this work, we made our readers acquainted with the plan on which it is written; and we gave expression to the very high opinion which we have formed of it, both in regard to its literary merits, and to the aid which it is calculated to afford to those who desire to become acquainted with the history, geography, and antiquities of the Sacred Writings. Having, however, on previous occasions, had the opportunity of bearing our testimony to the eminent qualifications of Dr. Kitto for treating these particular branches, and to the success with which he had done so, we propose, in place of saying again what we said before, to give our readers a specimen of the present volume; in regard to which all that we have to say is, that it is worthy to take its place beside its forerunners. THE CHERUBIM. What was the form of the Cherubim ? "In the first chapter of his prophecy, Ezekiel, a captive in Syria, describes certain living creatures' that he beheld in a vision. He does not say there that they were the temple cherubim; but they certainly were so; for in another vision, a little farther on, in the tenth chapter, he is transported in the spirit to Jerusalem, and set down in the precincts of the temple, then still standing. There he beheld, among other objects, the same living creatures,' and the throne previously described, standing in the inner court. Then,' he goes on, the glory of the Lord (the Shekinah that rested above the cherubim in the inner sanctuary) departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims; and the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight. This is the living creature that I saw (in the former vision) under the God of Israel, by the river of Chebar; and I KNEW THAT THEY WERE THE CHERUBIMS.' He then gives a description of them in conformity with his previous account, but somewhat less particular. It is clear that he did not at first recognize the temple cherubim in the living creatures he beheld in the first vision; but now, from the position of the same creatures in the temple, he knows that the figures he had previously seen were the cherubim. Let us therefore turn back to his description. There were four of them, and they all had the likeness ● a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot, and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces; and their wings were stretched upwards, two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.' "This information respecting the figures of the cherubim throws light upon what has seemed a difficulty to manythe introduction of the figures of oxen and lions in the temple court, as supporters of the brazen sea, and on the lavers. The heads of these animals being combined in one figure in the cherubim, Solomon might have felt there could be no impropriety in employing separately creatures composing that figure. They were therefore separate parts of the cherubic figure, and as such lawful,— although representations of living objects. Solomon may have felt some scruple about using the entire compound figure any where but within the temple itself, and therefore thus embodied the parts separately. The connexion between them and the cherubim, though not at the first view obvious to us, must have been clear to the Israelites; and this could not but tend to obviate that danger of idolatry which might have existed in the absence of any such connexion. "This is not the only instance of the separation of the cherubim into their component parts; for there can be no question but that, as the four 'living creatures' of Ezekiel are identical with the cherubim, so are the four beasts' which make so eminent a figure in St. John's apocalyptic vision. 'Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts, full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast was like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him and they were full of eyes within, and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Here we have a winged man, a winged ox, a winged lion, a winged eagle. In the figure of the cherubim we have the four combined-that is all the difference. Yet not all; for each of these figures has six wings, whereas the cherubim have but four. We may reach the reason for this difference, by recollecting, that of the four cherubic wings, two were flying, and the other two for dress, forming a kind of screen or skirt for the lower part of the figure, as in Isaiah's six winged seraphim, (which were also essentially cherubic,) with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly.' The two additional wings may therefore be meant to denote, that as the cherubim in this view are nearer the throne and the incumbent majesty than in the other, it was proper that their persons should be more completely veiled from the glance of that Holy One, in whose sight the heavens are not clean. "It will, no doubt, be recollected, that figures more or less analogous to the cherubim have been found in Egypt, and among all the nations of south western Asia-in Assyria, in Persia, and in Asia Minor. Some exhibit the same combination as in the temple cherubim; but we have the separate parts of the same, just as they were separable even under the Hebrew symbolization. Symbols the cherubim assuredly were, and not representations; and the heathen figures doubtless belonged to the same system of symbolization, if they did not symbolize the same things,-which may partly have been the case, if all were founded on dim traditions, common to all the races of men, of the cherubim stationed to keep the way of man's lost paradise. "We are at once reminded of the winged human figures of Egypt, Babylon, Nineveh, and Persia,-of which the last were remarkable, as known to be representations of disembodied souls. "The general opinion at this day, is that which represents the cherubim to be holy angels, and the figures of them in the sanctuary to be symbolical representations of their nature and ministry. But how would angels, or any order of angels, say, as in the Revelation, that Christ had redeemed them to God by His blood? and their appearance in that vision is clearly distinguished from that of the angels. The number of the angels was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, and they all stood around the zoo, or 'living creatures, which is incompatible with the latter being any order of angels. These considerations seem to compel us to withhold our assent to the ingenious arguments which have been produced in favour of a notion, which is, at the best, only a conjecture, and which its warmest supporters admit to be incapable of direct proof from Scripture. We need not state the arguments; for since, as the engineers say, no fortress is stronger than its weakest part, if these weak points clearly exist, the strength of all other arguments and illustrations must count for nothing. It is true that this opinion is very ancient, and probably may be traced as having originated among the Jews themselves; and to have been inherited from them by the Christian Church. But it has been forgotten that this is almost the only opinion they would be likely to reach, in the want of that better light into the hidden mysteries with which we have been favoured; and, having that clearer light, we needlessly, and sometimes dangerously, limit ourselves by carelessly adopting the narrow views which the Jews entertained of their own symbols and institutions. "It was shewn lately, that the cherubim of the tabernacle and temple were the same that Ezekiel saw, and the same that were seen in the apocalyptic vision. What is therefore declared of the latter is equally applicable to all; and this being the last and the New Testament revelation on the subject, might be expected to furnish some further disclosure in regard to this mystery than had in old times been possessed. This appears to be furnished in their new song: Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seal thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. Can this possibly be the language of angels ?-especially when we hear the apostle's doctrine, 'For verily he took not upon him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham,'-Heb. ii. 16; and when, moreover, in the context here, the angels are expressly distinguished from the four beasts? It can only be the language of human beings-of the multitude of the redeemed from among men, out of every nation,-not of any section of the Church, nor of any class of its members, but of the great body of the believers in the atonement, throughout all ages, countries, and nations. In the immediate application of this symbol, it may be said that, when the high priest entered the most holy place of the tabernacle-which he |