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such reasoners might have reasoned for ever without producing practical conviction;-the men-at-arms of literature, and sheathed from head to foot, they fought without an effective blow in the course of a battle. But we have come into other times; and the plainer, the more succinct, and the more modelled on the very teaching of the Apostles, the more irresistible will be the lesson.

Before closing this subject we shall give Dr. Miller's abstract of his interpretation:

"In a symbolical interpretation this trial may be understood to convey an intimation of that alienation from the love of the world, and of the things that are in the world, which has been strongly inculcated by the beloved apostle. To exhibit in action this important lesson, the kingdoms of the world and their glory, all the pomp and gratifying objects, which could allure a worldly mind, are presented to the view of our Saviour, and offered to his acceptance, on the condition that he would devote himself to the service of him, who is named † elsewhere in the sacred scripture" the god of the world," and is therefore the proper person for offering such gifts. Such a proposal with its absolute rejection completes the admonitions necessary for the due formation of the Christian character.

"By the first temptation we are instructed, that we should not place our entire reliance on any efforts, either of reasoning or of moral conduct, which we could exert for ourselves, but that, while we made the best use of all ordinary means, which have been granted to us, we should look to God for that assistance, by which alone they can be rendered efficacious.

"By the second we are warned, that our dependence on the divine protection should not be such, as would dispose us to neglect the right use of those ordinary means of our moral preservation, which the divine providence has entrusted to our management.

"By the third we are directed to reject with abhorrence every allurement of this world, which might withdraw us from the service of our God, and engage us to transfer our homage to him, who by these allurements would tempt us to disobedience." P. 61.

This, it will be perceived, is a view very different from ours. We had omitted to mention that, on our theory alone, is the change of scene in the temptation accounted for. The wilderness is the emblem of the original state of the persecuted Christian Church; and it was not till the mystic "forty days," (the era of the actual heathen inflictions,) were past; that it "began to be an hungred," (that human, sensual appetites began to be experienced.) The second temptation was in the temple in that city, which exclusively, and yet groundlessly, called itself Holy, For it was in Rome, when she had assumed ecclesiastical +2 Cor. iv. 4.

* 1 John ii. 15, 16. NO. VIII. VOL. IV.

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supremacy, and had arrogated to herself the title of Holy, that the working of fictitious miracles and the excesses of idolatry and superstition were displayed. The third was on a high mountain. A mountain is frequently the Scripture emblem at once of idolatry, and of temporal power. The pagan rites were generally celebrated on mountain tops; and citadels were generally planted on them. The two-fold sense was applicable to Rome in the 13th century, the epoch of her temporal supremacy. She was at once the head of idolatry and the head of power ! The "temptation" was, at the beginning of our Lord's ministry, what the "apocalypse" was at the close. It was but a briefer prophecy of the Antichrist that was to come.

It may not be following the narrative of this sublime transaction too far, to presume that even the visit of the angels to our Lord comforting him after his defeat of the tempter, had a reference to the true church; in fact, was a confirmation of the promise so often made in Scripture, that the day shall come, when the Church of God shall have its final rest, and triumphing over the inflictions to which it is, for inscrutable purposes, subjected in the common courses of the world, have an abundant and exceeding recompense of glory, even before the period when all things shall be dissolved.

To make our interpretation plainer, we have here collected its principal features into one view.

THE TEMPTATION OF OUR LORD.

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vereignty of the descendants of Charlemagne over Rome.

It would be injustice to Dr. Miller not to say, that if our's be the true theory, he is to be in some measure thanked for it. It probably would not have been conceived at all, but for his pamphlet's having led to the verge of the interpretation.

Biblical Researches and Travels in Russia, including a Tour in the Crimea, and the Passage of the Caucasus, with Observations on the State of the Rabbinical and Karaite Jews, and the Mohammedan and Pagan Tribes, inhabiting the Southern provinces of the Russian Em pire. With maps and plates. By E. HENDERSON. 8vo. Pp. 552. Price 16s. London. 1826.

THE name of Mr. Henderson is already familiarized to our readers, in consequence of his observations on the Turkish New Testament: his present tour was undertaken to promote the objects of the Bible Society, which fact we shall not notice further on account of the differences of opinion which prevail on this subject. We shall view the present work, as a book of Travels illustrative of antient Biblical customs, and of the present state of religion in the regions of which it treats; for on a point assailed by such objections, as that to which the work itself is directed, we would rather be silent, than enlist ourselves in the already trite field of controversy. Mr. Henderson's ability as a scholar we are pre-disposed much to respect, and of his judgment as a traveller we have no reason to entertain doubts. In the first chapter (P. 4, 5.) we find a description of the construction of the Finnish language, which contains thirteen

cases,

"Expressive of the different relations of the nouns, to which they are postfixed. Neither substantives nor adjectives exhibit any distinction of gender; and instead of our full and separate possessive pronouns, the Finns generally append certain abbreviated forms of the pronoun, after the manner of the Semitic dialects. The verbs have only two tenses, the past and the present: it being only possible to express the future by adding to the form of the present some word indicative of a future action or state of being. The principal accent is invariably placed upon the first syllable, and the last is as invariably left altogether unaccented . . There is always one principal vowel in a word, which is said to govern the other vowels, which occur in it, on which account they must always be of the same class."

In this description we retrace an Asiatic origin, not the exact character of any one surviving language, but the combined

character of several of the same family, which, if we consider how little we know of the earliest migrations of people, is far from bearing with it marks of improbability: Mr. Henderson considers the Finnish language to have a relation to the Turkish and Hungarian.

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During the author's stay at Novogorod, he visited St. Anthony's monastery, in the academy belonging to which several students are educated in separate classes, according to their ficiency. These classes are divided into Philological, Philosophical, and Theological, in each of which the students spend two years. Hebrew is here taught with the points, according to the pronunciation of the Spanish Jews, from Dr. Pavsky's Grammar, published some years ago at St. Petersburgh. The study of this language has been attended in this place with such success, that several educated in it are employed in this branch of tuition, in many different academies of the empire.

At page 25, a very interesting account of the Staroværtzi, or Dissenters of the Old Faith is given, whose rigid and contracted notions appear to be carried to a very absurd extreme. Metals on a coat, a tobacco-pipe, or a snuff-box excite the most formidable prejudices, and even the utensils used by one of a different persuasion must be broken, to keep these zealots from pollution. Should such a heterodox visitor place his snuff-box on their table, the place, where it lay, must be planed away, before the table could again be applied to any purpose. They totally separate themselves from the Church, except that the priest's licence is required to their marriages: they never celebrate the sacrament, and administer baptism only to those, who are near death. In addition to these, he mentions the Bezpopovtchini, or the Priestless, who conduct their worship without the assistance of any regularly ordained. priest.

The description of Moscow, with its university, and institutions, curiosities and antiquities, is deserving of notice. We regret much, that Mr. Henderson did not devote more time to the examination of the library in the Kreml, that he did not collate the "very antient Greek MS." of the Gospels, written in cursive characters, and give a detail of the various readings to be found in it. The rich collection of Greek MSS. deposited here must be of vast critical utility, and to a person engaged in the circulation of the New Testament, we think that every help to the history of its text should be of high importance; for, although Matthæi diligently employed himself on these Biblical treasures, still the author admits, that an ample field of critical research remains to be trodden. The library of the

Holy Synod, likewise, contains a considerable number of Greek and Sclavonic volumes, both printed and in MS., many of which are of great rarity. Among these, were "several Greek Evangelarii in manuscript." These are capable of conferring valuable assistance to the critical inquirer into the antient state of the text, and the Sclavonic copies would be of no contemptible worth in ascertaining the readings of the version, from which they were severally translated.

From the Archimandrite Seraphim, Mr. Henderson ascertained, that the Armenian MSS. of the Bible abound in numerous and important discrepancies, and that Uscan, only in particular instances, rendered the Armenian text conformable to the Vulgate. He states, likewise, on the authority of a Georgian, that a vast number of Chinese Christians, banished thither in chains on account of their religion, are to be found in the towns of Ila, Kulja, Aksu, Kashgar, and Yerkent, in Chinese Tartary.

The writer enters into a deep and luminous detail of the Sclavonic language and Scriptures, and furnishes us with several interesting particulars respecting Cyril and Methodius, to which we feel, that we cannot do adequate justice by our epitomized remarks. It is a subject well deserving of an attentive perusal, and from which the reader will not depart without a considerable accession of information. The Ostrog edition was carefully collated with Greek MSS. obtained from Greece, and both the Ostrog and modern editions agree in some passages with the Alexandrian against the Vatican copy. e. g.

"Gen. ii. 23. v'ziata bist ci. Cod. Al. ¿λýμ¤&n aůrn, The Cod. Vat. omits aůτŃ.

"iii. 14. Zvierii Zemnich, twv Ingiwv tñs vñs. The Cod. Vat. has τῶν θηρίων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

"v. 20. iako ta m'ti. Cod. Alex. öri aur unτng. The Cod. Vat. omits αὐτή.

"iv. 11. na Zemli. Cod. Alex. iπì rñs yns. Cod. Vat. añò τñs ys, agreeably to PTNT of the Hebrew text."

There are also peculiar readings, of which a specimen is given; and instances are adduced in proof,

"That the Sclavonic text was made with the assistance of the Vulgate, or some antient Latin MSS. found in the Bulgarian monasteries, or, that it was at least, revised and altered, according to them."

Though,

"We are not acquainted with the age or quality of the Greek MSS.,

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