courses, embracing a sufficient variety to excite attention, at the same time forcibly inculcating the pure doctrines and practical precepts of Christianity, which is adapted, in all respects, to the reader, and the usual circle of listeners met on the Sabbath evening for prayer and edification. We really think that Mr. Pitman's work bids fair to supply the deficiency, which has been so much regretted. The business of abridgment, in these sermons, seems in general well executed; the selection, and appropriation to the day, are very judicious; and the authors placed under requisition are confessedly of the first rank. Some three and thirty Divines, besides the Editor, have severally contributed to the completion of the course; and amongst these there is perhaps but a single name, or at most two names, against which we should except.

An Address to the Rising Generation, on the Truth and Excellency of the Bible, and the Blessing of Christianity, principally meant for young Persons between fourteen and twenty-one Years of Age; with a short Advice to Parents. By W. C. BOYD, pp. 40. London. Baynes. 1825.

THE title-page sufficiently explains the nature of this tract: it can only be necessary to add, that the subjects mentioned are treated soberly and seriously.

Sermons Scriptural, Practical, and Occasional, preached in 1818, and the following years. By A COUNTRY CURATE. 8vo. pp. 384. 10s. 6d. London. Longman. 1825.

OUR author adopts rather a singular method of dividing, or, to speak more correctly, of describing his discourses. Prudence requires that an author should be especially circumspect in drawing up his title-page and introduction. But of this enough.

Several of these Sermons were preached on particular occasions -one on the death of Queen Charlotte-another on the death of his late Majesty-and a third, for the benefit of the National Society for the Education of the Poor. We are sorry, however, that it is not in our power to speak favourably of the contents of the volume in general.

We cannot, indeed, express in too strong terms our disapprobation of the manner in which our author on one occasion

addresses the female part of his audience. It is so unbecom ing the dignity of the pulpit, and so contrary to all the principles of good taste, that we are unwilling to offend our readers by repeating it.

Nor must we omit to notice that there are some unguarded reflections in another part of the volume respecting the future state of the heathen in another world. We ought to be very cautious in encouraging within our own minds, or in communicating to others any conjectures on this momentous subject. They cannot possibly be productive of any good, but obviously they may be the occasion of much evil. Let us content ourselves with the general promises of Scripture to the faithful; and as far as we are able to procure an interest in them for ourselves and others. Shall not the Judge of all the world do right?

Sermons preached before a Country Congregation. By WILLIAM BISHOP, M.A., Rector of Upton Nervet, Berks, and late Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. 12mo. pp. 330. 5s. London. Rivingtons. 1825.

NOTWITHSTANDING the great number of sermons which the press is continually sending forth, it but rarely happens that we meet with a volume altogether so completely answering to its professed character as the one before us. The subjects of the discourses, (twenty in number) are well chosen, and judiciously treated, in language singularly well adapted to the generality of country congregations. We have great pleasure in recommending to the attention of our readers a work which has afforded us much satisfaction; and trust this will not be the last time that we shall be called upon to notice the productions of the same author.

Discourses of a Father to his Children, on some of the leading Doctrines and Duties of Christianity: which may also be useful for Domestic Reading in general. 12mo. pp. 190. Oxford. Vincent. 1825.

THIS little book, containing nine well written sermons, on important subjects, may safely and profitably be put into the hands of young persons, and deserves to find its way into schools as well as into private families.

BIBLICAL MEMORANDA.

(No. II.)

THE Gospel of St. Mark begins with a citation of Malachi's prophecy concerning St. John the Baptist, whose mission is fixed by St. Luke in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar. Some of the fathers record, that the words apx Evayyis refer exclusively to the mission of the Baptist, which they frequently called by this name; and the subsequent parts of the chapter authorize us in assenting to them, to a certain

extent.

St. John denominates him ἄνθρωπος ἀπεςαλμένος παρὰ Θεῖ, i. e. xx, which was one of the ancient titles of a true prophet; and accordingly the next verse sets forth his office, which was to bear witness to the light. The earlier writings of the Jews had described the Messiah 66 as A GREAT LIGHT;" and St. John introduces him under this epithet. But the place of the Baptist's manifestation is said by St. Matthew to have been the wilderness of Judæa, by which the plains of Judæa, adjacent to the lake Asphaltitis and the Jordan, are implied; for these are called in the Old Testament. Rechenbergius and others, however, incline to a different opinion; yet, as St. John mentions Bethabara in particular as one scene of the Baptist's ministry, we derive no unimportant assistance to our inquiry from the description of this place by Josephus. The mountains of Judæa, which were his native place, are called in

and Byneus, de Natali ;מדבר הרים or הר המלך the Talmud

Jesu Christi, (p. 339.) writes: "In montanâ parte, ipsum montanum Judæ, quod regalem montem vocant Talmudici, est notissimum, cujus pars desertum Judææ, in quâ Beerzebah, Hebron, et urbes aliæ. Falluntur enim, qui desertum Judææ in solitudinem convertunt, ut jamdudúm docuerunt viri doctissimi."

The evangelist Matthew appeals to the prophecy of Isaiah, which foretold his appearance: and the Codex Nazaræus, which professes to detail the doctrines of his followers, makes mention of the ?, or immane desertum; and, in these words, alludes to the prediction cited by the Evangelist: Raw? 1,2500 1,50 Vazo 1011 wil Vega 1007 Vo sobiolo 1127 logo

"A voice was in every land, a most brilliant splendour was in every city, and the Herald of Life was made known, and THE VINE was seen in Jerusalem."

We are now arrived at a curious part of our inquiry: the dress and food of the Baptist. The garment of camels' hair, or of other animals, was the usual dress of the ancient prophet, who was, on that account, styled by the Rabbinical writers ww by ww (cf. Zach. xiii. 4; and Braunius, concerning the dress of the Hebrew Priests, 1. 1. c. 4.) Raucoulf the traveller mentions rough garments made from the skins of asses or goats, as frequent in the Desert; and Said Ibn Batric pretends, that Melchisedek wore the same dress as the Baptist. Eustathius on the Iliad records, that such was the primitive clothing of mankind; and Wetstein has adduced many examples in corroboration of the statement.

It is however certain, that John assumed the prophetic dress, and Elijah is represented in the Old Testament with a similar costume. Balthassar, Stolberg de Victû et Amictû Johannis Baptistæ, records the controversy, whether this vestment was of camel's hair, or of coarse yarn, (nάuλos); but this is to be referred to monkish ineptiæ, which would claim an authority for some of their peculiar dresses from thence. Yet we may argue from St. Matthew xi. 8, that it was composed of coarse materials; and Chardin has assured us, that the quality of the hair varies very much in different parts of the camel's body; some being very soft, some very coarse. Coarse garments, in all ages, have been the badge of the ascetic: the Dervish still affects them, as indications of superior sanctity. And to this day, in the East, the poorer orders make garments from the coarse hair, which annually falls from the camel. One sort was called by the Hebrews ; and in Lev. xix. 19, Deut. xxii. 11, it was forbidden to mix it with the wool of sheep. Ælian, Var. Hist. 1. 17. c. 24. and Ctesias, c. 10. notice these cameline garments as the dresses of the Persian priests and nobles. Theophylact conceives that of the Baptist to have been πένθος σύμβολον.

The leathern girdle was worn likewise by the Jewish prophets, and is denominated (2 Kings i. 8.): it still forms an essential part of Asiatic dress. A quotation, which we shall shortly produce, shows that the followers of the Baptist imitated his habiliments. Morier, in his second journey to Persia, (p. 44) writes:

"Indeed the general appearance of St. John, clothed with camel's hair, (rather skin) with a leathern girdle around his loins, and living a life of the greatest self-denial, was that of the older prophets, (Zach.

xiii. 4.); and such was the dress of Elijah, the hairy man, with a girdle about his loins, described in 2 Kings i. 8. At the present moment, however, we see some resemblance of it in the Dervishes and Goushehnishins (sitters in the corner), who are so frequently met with in Persia; a set of men who hold forth their doctrines in open places, sometimes almost naked, with their hair and beard floating wildly about their head, and a piece of camel or deer-skin thrown over their shoulders."

Chrysostom instances Peter, Paul, and Elijah, as wouevo 1, which is a puerile remark, since this was the general custom of the nation. The Orientals and Greeks, from time immemorial, made use of zones; and Diana's epithet, volan, had reference to an Asiatic practice. Sir Robert Ker Porter, (vol. i. p. 143.) observes, that the Circassians bind the leathern girdle round the bodies of their infants; and that others, of more ample dimensions, are worn by women until their marriage, when they are cut at night by the swords or scimitars of their husbands. And every traveller who visits different regions of the East, may witness existing proofs of this probably patriarchal custom.

But a long controversy has been agitated concerning the locusts, which the Baptist ate, some determining them to be animals; others fruits, or succulent shoots of trees. The arguments urged in favour of the latter, are merely founded on his eremitical life, and want higher authority to corroborate them. Although we read frequently of Eastern devotees retiring for purposes of meditation to thick parts of forests, and feeding upon roots and fruits, yet we have historic testimony, that locusts were ordinarily eaten by the poorer orders, and those who denied to themselves luxuries. Pliny indeed (Nat. Hist. 1. xxii. c. 25.) mentions a sort of barley or wheat called by this name, of which Dioscorides (1. ii. c. 87.) gives a description, saying, that it bears on the tops ὥσπερ ἀκρίδια δίκωλα, in the beards of which the seed is found; but this proves nothing. Perotius and Isidorus Pelusiota decided in favour of the tops of plants; the words of the latter are: αἱ ἀκρίδες, αἷς Ιωαννης ἐτρέφετο, κ ζῶα εἰσιν ὥς τινες οἴονται ἀμαθῶς κανθάροις ἀπεοίκοτα. Μὴ γένοιτο ἀλλ ̓ ἀκρέμονες βοτανῶν καὶ φυτῶν. Others interpreted the word ἀκρόδρυα ἤ ἄκρα δρυῶν. Strange fancies have been indulged in this enquiry: the Ebionitish Gospel read yngidas; some nagiSas; and others axpadas. The Ebionites evidently borrowed their idea from the Septuagint version of Exodus xvi. 31, which some have collated with the words of Athenæus, Tεάtion ἑψόμενον ἐν ἐλαίῳ, καὶ μετὰ τῦτο μελιτώμενον. But Epiphanius has particularly mentioned, that, in this instance, they wilfully perverted truth. Among the multitude of fables, we observe that some imagined them to be small birds with red feet,