presently. So that, according to the story of the Pentateuch, every mother in Israel must have had on an average forty two sons.'

To which Mr. Birks replies "This prodigious result, of fortytwo sons and nearly as many daughters for every mother in Israel, is gained by combining three grand errors, one of which triples the number, a second doubles it, and a third increases it by one half; so that their joint effect is to in crease it just nine-fold. The true result of the actual data is to give a probable number of four and a half sons and three and a half daughters, or a total of eight boys and girls in each family. This may be shown briefly by the following reasons. 1st. The basis of the judgment on Egypt, and the consecration of the firstborn was the relation of Israel to Jehovah as a firstborn child, under the tutelage of his father. When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. Hosea xi. 1. 2nd. The judgment on Egypt, for the denial of God's paternal right over Israel, was strictly a domestic visitation, not on the adult Egyptians, but on the eldest male child in each family, the chief of all their strength, Psalms cv., 36. So that in every house there was one dead, Exodus xii., 30. That one was the eldest son, and not the householder or parent, else Pharoah himself, in all likelihood, must have perished also. 3rd. The consecration of Israel answered strictly to the judgment on Egypt. The Passover was celebrated in each house, and it was a domestic deliverance. Only after the sons of Israel themselves have been numbered, or all the adult males, the further charge is given, Number all the firstborn males to the sons of Israel, from a month old and upward; that is, all the firstborn children, who were males, to the parents who have been numbered just before. Thus the number is reduced to one-third, or fourteen sons, and fourteen, or more probably ten daughters. 4th. The numbering was of the

firstborn males only, and not of eldest sons, who had an elder sister. This reduces the number to one-half, or about seven sons and five daughters to each family. 5th. Children who died in infancy might be replaced by others, but not the firstborn. By common tables of life this reduces the ratio as 141 to 200, or two-thirds nearly. Hence, finally, 4 sons, and probably 3 daughters, or eight boys and girls together is the total number required for each Israelite family. This agrees exactly with the rate of increase during the Sojourn, with a mean descent or generation, from father to son, of 31 or 32 years. The objection, then, turns into a fresh confirmation of the consistency and truth of the whole narrative.'

We have only room for another quotation. It is on

THE FIRST PASSOVER IN EGYPT.

6

'The whole of the immense population of Israel,' says Colenso, as large as that of London, was instructed to keep the Passover, and actually did keep it, in one single day. For the first notice of it contains the words, I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, verse 12. It cannot be said that this only means, on the night of the fourteenth of Nisan; because the word is this and not that; and it is said again, verse 14, THIS DAY shall be unto you for a memorial. It is true the story as it now stands, with its directions about taking and keeping the lamb, are perplexing and contradictory; but this is only one of the many similar phenomena of these books of the Pentateuch.

'Again, the Passover would require 150,000 lambs of the first year for sacrifices. But 50,000 he-lambs besides must be kept for breeding, or else there would never be any rams or wethers, but ewe sheep innumerable! This implies 400,000 lambs of the first year, and flocks of two millions, and 400,000 acres, or 625 square miles of pasture. Over this space the Israelites must have been spread when they re

Notices of Books-True Life the Object of True Glorying.

ceived the directions, twelve hours before the Passover. A command, however, on which life and death depended, could not have been given to every household, and obeyed, within the twelve hours, nor a second command at midnight have started them all in hurried flight into the wilderness.'

Mr. Birks's reply is triumphantly conclusive. He shows, first of all that the population was just one million less than London at the present time; then, that the very phrase Colenso says is not used, that night, is used, and in another verse of the very same chapter; that the phrase rendered this day is confessedly better rendered, this self same day, referring naturally, to the time when the event should take place, and in suitable terms; that at least a fortnight intervened between the command and the exodus; and lastly, in reference to the lambs, that-but Mr. Birks shall here speak for himself; 'If twenty was a frequent number for one Paschal company in peaceful times at Jerusalem, there is no necessity for a lower average in Egypt, where the families must have been large from their rate of increase, and crowded in and near Rameses before The their expected departure. number of lambs probably needed would thus be only 90,000. Instead of one in three, as assumed, one in ten, as we see in Genesis xxxii., 14, is the fair allowance of the rams of the flock; which gives 200,000 for all the lambs of the first year, instead of twice that number. Next, the ratio of five to one for the

whole flock is taken from Australia, where the sheep are kept almost entirely for their wool, and the flesh is of little value. In England, where they are kept mainly for the meat, as in Goshen, 100 ewes will give 100 to 140 lambs in a season; as may be learned from any village shepherd. Hence, finally, a flock of 200,000 ewes, instead of ten times the number, would provide the lambs really required for the Passover. Instead of 625 square

185

miles, the size of Herefordshire, these, at five to the acre, would need only 60 or 70 square miles, one-twentieth of an average English county. Finally, it is quite absurd to suppose that the flocks must have been spread over the whole space required for their permanent pasture, on the very eve of migration, for which several weeks' preparation had evidently been made.'

We cordially commend this most judicious, scholarly, and admirable reply of Mr. Birks to the Bishop of Natal to the thoughtful attention of our readers.

TRUE LIFE THE OBJECT OF TRUE
GLORYING.

A sermon occasioned
by the death of James Sheridan
Knowles, Esq., with a sketch of
his Christian character and life.
By ALFRED C. THOMAS. London:
THE text of this sermon is Jeremiah
Elliot Stock.
Let not the wise man
ix., 23-24.
observes that the three things the
glory in his wisdom, &c. Mr. Thomas
world glories in are, knowledge,
power, and wealth, and that the
words of the prophet prohibit all
the true objects in which alone
such glorying. He then glances at
men of God can glory,
standing and knowing God.
Thomas afterwards glances briefly
at the character of the gifted and
eccentric man, who, according to the
Atheneum, was the most original

dramatist of modern times.

discovered the

under

Mr.

Mr.

Thomas says, that while Mr. Knowles glorying late in life, when once it true object of was discovered, he most ardently pursued it; that his character was a union of simplicity and strength; that while zealous for Protestantism and for baptism by immersion, it is not true to say that sectarianism soured his temper and narrowed his mind, and that he never became a sectary in any sense; and that humility, thankfulness, and prayerfulness marked his whole Christian

career.

THE ORIGIN AND TENDENCIES OF
INFANT BAPTISM. By WILLIAM

WALTERS, of Newcastle. London: | WHAT is the unpreached Gospel?
Heaton & Son.

MR. WALTERS in this discourse
takes up the supposed origin of
infant baptism, as foreshadowed in
the rite of circumcision, in the
conduct of Christ to children, in the
commission, as embracing in its
terms infants, in the baptism of
households, and in the passage in
1 Cor. vii. 14. He shows, that in
each case there is no ground for the
deduction made by pædo-baptists,
and that even the most learned of
their adherents have been obliged
to confess that the practice came
into existence subsequently to apos-
tolic times. In confirmation of this
last statement he quotes Neander,
Hahn, Lange, Jacobi, and Schleier-
macher. The first reference to
infant baptism is in A.D. 200, by
Tertullian, who alludes to it to
protest against it. The practice it-
self originated in Africa, the most cor-
rupt portion of the church. The per-
nicious tendencies of infant baptism
Mr. Walters urges are these, that
it lessens men's reverence and regard
for the supreme authority of Jesus
Christ; lessens also their respect
for the Scriptures as a rule of faith
and practice; and tends to deceive and
ruin the souls of men. The sermon,
while earnest and candid in its
spirit, is destitute of bitterness.
It is one that may induce pædo-
baptists who would carefully read
it, to a reconsideration of their
views on the subject of baptism.
A MOTHER'S PERPLEXITY; OR MUST
BABY BE BAPTIZED ? Louth:
Burton, East-gate.

This according to our authorthat it is the will of God, through the elect church, to make the masses of mankind after the resurrection acquainted with the Saviour they never knew on earth.' This is, so he declares, the gospel embedded in the Bible, rather than found in any one specific text. The kingdom' everywhere spoken of in the New Testament, is this kingdom after death, not the triumph of holy principles in this life. Those who wilfully reject the truth now, and persist in this rejection, pass into a condition of hopeless and irremediable ruin. But those who are indifferent, careless, the subjects of mental and moral torpor, the result of animalism, oppression, superstition, the cares of the world, or incapacity to realize another-will make the great field' in which the church hereafter shall find her great work. The writer seems to think that the best way of propagating his views is to state them in foggy sentences rather than to put them prominently forward in orderly array. A beautiful haze hangs over the subject of the pamphlet, and precludes the possibility of its winning many disciples. If it be true, it is certainly worthy of more definite treatment. If it be false: it may safely be left in its own misty environment.

Its

JOURNAL DES FAMILLES. 1re Liv. RAISON. London: Allan & Co., Stationers' Hall Court. This is a very admirable Magazine. Its purpose is to supply suitable and THIS is a very suitable tract for easy French reading for young distribution in villages which may persons on leaving school. be pestered with High-church or articles are partly selected, partly Puseyite curates. original. Each Number is to conTHE UNPREACHED GOSPEL: an Em-tain sixteen pages, 4to., and to be By THE AUTHOR profusely illustrated with superior OF THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. wood engravings. The Journal London: Simpkin, Marshall, and started in October last. The yearly Co. subscription is eight shillings.

bedded Truth.

Intelligence.