baptism of Christ, placed at the entrance of the great church at Pisa. Pisan tradition says this marble ornament was carried from Jerusalem by the Crusaders, about the commencement of the twelfth century. The Baptist stands with his hand upon the Saviour's head. The second is the baptism of the same subject in Jordan, taken from the church on the Via Ostiensis at Rome. The door which it covers is dated 1070. The third is from the door of the church at Beneventum, in Italy. Here Jesus is standing in a bath up to the middle, and the Baptist is pouring water on his head. The fourth is that of Jesus standing in the Jordan, with the Baptist pouring water, in streams, on his head. There is a centre piece in the dome of the baptistery at Ravenna, A. D., 454. Here the Baptist stands on the bank of the river, pouring water out of a shell on the Saviour's head. Over his head is a crown of glory, and a dove, personating the Holy Spirit, descending from heaven to his person. The fifth is a representation in Mosaic, of the Saviour's baptism in Jordan. Here, again, a patera, or a shell, is employed in pouring water on his person. This stands in the church in Cosmedin, at Ravenna, erected A. D. 401. The sixth is a representation of a bath, or bap. tismal fount, standing in the baptistery of Constantine, in Rome, near the Lateran. This is too shallow for immersion. The seventh argument is the baptism of a heathen King and Queen, in a family bath at Chigi, near Naples, with a priest standing as if taking aim at the King's head, with a pitcher in his hand, A. D., 591. The eighth proof is that of a kneeling candidate, with a priest holding a vase, or pitcher, at his head. He seems to be on the dry ground. The ninth is that of a boy, unclothed, receiving a stream from a pitcher. This is found in Rome, though the work of a Greek artist. The tenth is Laurentius in the church of St. Lawrence, in Rome, or near it-extra muros-receiving a stream from a vase. The eleventh that of Constantine the Great, Emperor of Rome, being immersed in a bath, but also receiving a stream of oil or water falling upon his head from a vial, held by a long robed priest. The twelfth is that of Jesus Christ, baptized by John in the Jordan, standing on the bank, with one hand on, or near to, his head. shell nor vial is seen in the picture. Probably the baptizer had dipped his finger in the Jordan. This stands in the chapel of the baptistery, in the small church of the Catacomb Pontianus, with a lamb at his foot. The baptizers, though I have called them priests, from their costume, are said to have been laymen, and Mr. Taylor admits the allegation, and quiets all scruples by the concession, that in all extreme cases, baptism by the hand

No

of laymen is of divine authority, and, consequently, canonical and valid.

Now, the grand and solemn question is, What does all this prove? It proves not when this custom began, nor when these pictures were made; and if it did, they are all hundreds of years too late to prove primitive apostolic baptism. No one can, with any measure of selfrespect, deny this. And this admitted, places these twelve arguments on the shelf, lettered, "OLD WIVES' FABLES"!

In the next place, statuaries, sculptors, and painters, are always fond of catering to public taste and fashion, and will make to order any number of marble, or other ornaments, just as Mr. Sartain, in his pictorial magazine, or as printers do in the Family Bible-make such representations of angels, men, costumes, and customs, as will command the highest admiration, secure the largest sale, and the most liberal price.

Thus we see in one New Testament, in an orthodox pulpit, quite as sacred as the vestibule of St. Peter's, or the dome of St. Paul's, a pictorial representation of Paul's conversion. The admiration and taste of the artist conceived that it would be more pleasing to present Paul as a fine athletic looking man, mounted on a fiery Arabian courser, on his way to Damascus. And when arrested on his journey by a glance of the Lord and the majesty of his voice, the affrighted steed, springing like a deer from its lair, in frenzied mood plunging in the desert, unsaddles his rider and flings him over his head, while the unhorsed apostle, pertinacious of his hold of the bridle, brings him to the ground, and appears as if about to rise, whip in hand, with full intent, in sad distraction, wildly looking hither and thither, as if to lay upon him the weight of his indignant arm. How suitable to such an event is such a scene, however well executed and elegantly decorated by the hand of a gifted artist!

Again: open our elegant Family Bibles of the nineteenth century, and what idea do they give of the Saviour's baptism in the Jordan! You will see opposite to the account of his baptism, or on the frontispiece of the volume, John the Immerser, alias, John the Baptist, standing upon a bluff bank of the Jordan, or, in other pictures, standing ankle deep in its margin, lifting up a handful, or pouring a horn full, of the water of the river upon his head, while a dove, on its wing, is descending from an open sky, in the direction of the imposing scene. Now, what does this prove, but the ignorance or impiety of painters of the present day? And just so much, neither more nor less, do these twelve pictures, the twelve unanswerable arguments of C. Taylor, in favor of the Pagan rite of

sprinkling holy water, under the imposing name of Christian baptism, alias, Roman rantiem! It is a fearful deception, practised upon the credulity of an untaught and unteachable population. "O my people, they which lead thee (or call thee blessed) cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths"!* "They have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know and am a witness, saith the Lord."+ A. C.

THE RESURRECTION.

THIS term is sometimes used in the Holy Scriptures figuratively, as in Ezekiel xxxvii., when the prophet is contemplating the return of his countrymen from their seventy years' captivity. Sometimes it is used spiritually; an instance of this kind is found in John v. 26, where the Saviour evidently refers to the conversion of sinners. Similar instances are to be met with in the Epistles and Apocalypse. It is used, also, in a literal sense. The Saviour arose literally; so did many of the saints after his resurrection; and so will all that are in their graves, just and unjust, finally. We shall confine our remarks to the literal resurrection, and, in the first place, notice what we regard as mistakes on the subject.

The first of these, is the view entertained by the followers of Emanuel Swedenbourg. That distinguished scholar, and equally distinguished enthusiast, denies that there is to be a resurrection of the dead, a general judgment, and a final destruction, by fire, of our present mundane system. His views, if we understand them, are that the dead are raised immediately after their decease, and clothed at once with spiritual bodies; that the judgment takes place at the same time, and that our present heavens and earth will continue forever.

The second mistake is one into which the great mass of professing Christians, teachers and taught, together with the bulk of nonprofessors, in nominally Christian countries, have fallen. It consists in supposing that the natural body, with its flesh, and blood, and bones, is to be revived. Hence we sing

"This body shall be raised again,
And all this dust shall live."

And hence, speakers generally, following, I think

*Is. iii. 12

¡is, Harvey,)

+Jer. xxix. 23.

when describing the scene of the resurrection, represent the air as filled with fragments of human bodies, flying in all directions to meet their fellows, and make up again the same bodies of which they once were component parts. This may be poetical, but is certainly not scriptural, as we shall see by-and-by.

A third mistake consists in regarding the doctrine of resurrection as one of but little importance. The mass of church members appear to be so entirely carried away with the immortality of the soul, that they speak of the resurrection as a matter scarcely to be desired. They care but little about it..

In regard to the first of these mistakes-that of Baron Swedenbourg-let it be observed, that it is entirely fanciful. The Baron himself, relies mainly for its truth on his own visions, and we are at liberty to consider it more in the light of a revelation, than that of a scriptural deduction. Efforts, however, have been made, not only to reconcile it with the Bible, but to show that it is positively the doctrine of that book, when correctly expounded. Of these efforts, every reader will judge for himself; suffice it to say, that every sacred writer, from Enoch, the seventh from Adam, to John in the isle of Patmos, whenever they allude to this subject, invariably, without one single exception, speak of it as future. It never could have been said of Christ that he was the first to rise from the dead, or the first fruits of them that sleep, if every human being is raised immediately after death.

The second mistake results from inattention to the teachings of the Apostle Paul, especially in chap. xv. of first Corinthians.

The same remark will apply to the third mistake. As, however, in giving our views on this subject, in the sequel, we shall necessarily furnish an answer to these last two mistakes, it is unnecessary further to notice them at present.

I proceed, then, to say, that God is a God of order. All his works bear ample testimony to the universality of this truth. He has made nothing in vain. From the loftiest seraph to the small dust of the balance, every creature and every thing has its own use, its own name and its own place, in the wide-spread works of his Almighty hand. His redeemed creature man, is destined to a glorious eternity; and even the lost sons of Father Adam, are to share in a universal resurrection. The former shall be raised to everlasting life; the latter to shame and everlasting contempt. All shall be raised, but every one in his own order. Christ the first fruits; afterwards, they that are Christ's at his coming; then cometh the end. This is God's order in the resurrection. Let us look at it. First,

Christ the first fruits; second, they that are Christ's at his coming; third, the end, viz: the resurrection of the ungodly. The first is past, and become matter of history and faith. The second approaches, and constitutes the Christian's hope. The third will follow at a suitable interval, and wind up the drama of human existence, and close up with the conflagration of the world. Christ has arisen and gone to heaven. The resurrection of the saints, then, as it is the next in order, demands our consideration.

Our first question is, When shall the resurrection take place? The answer, at the coming of Christ. See 1 Cor. xv. 23, Col. iii. 4, Heb. ix. 18.

But when shall Christ come? In answering this question, it is proper for us to say, in the first place, that it has never been revealed, and, consequently, cannot be precisely ascertained-the day and hour knoweth no man. Still, while this, in all its truth and in all its force, is freely confessed, we contend that a good deal, both reliable and satisfactory, can be gleaned by the diligent student of the Bible, on this question. The mariner finds it safe, now and then, to take an observation, in order to ascertain certainly his precise latitude. The Christian can do the same. The prophecies of the Old and New Testament Scriptures furnish all that is requisite for this purpose. The first of these that we shall refer to, is Nebuchadnezzar's Vision, as recorded in chap. ii. of Daniel's Prophecy; and for the sake of brevity, we remark, that the successive empires symbolized in the image, whose head was of fine gold, and whose feet were part of iron and part of clay, have arisen, flourished, and fallen. The stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, has smitten the image; and the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron and the clay, have become as the small dust of the summer threshing floor, and the wind has carried them away. One item, only, of this prophecy remains to be accomplished, and that is, the stone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. We infer, therefore, that the next event to be looked for, according to this series of prophecies, is the millennial glory of the universal Christian church.

The second prophecy that we would look at, is that of the four Monsters, as recorded in chap. xvii. of the same prophecies. These four great beasts, or monsters, symbolize the same powers that were previously represented by the gold, silver, brass and iron of the image, viz: the Assyrian, Medo-Persian, Grecian and Roman empires. But, in addition to these four universal empires, the prophet speaks of a division of the last-namely, the Roman empire-into SERIES IV.-VOL. I.

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