plain, stands the convent." On the twenty or more fruit trees. As I was east side of this valley, and at its en- the first (as far as I am aware) to obtrance, is a small hill separated from serve this singular "rent" in the the mountain by a road about one bup-"Rock of Horeb," and am unable to dred feet across, which travellers fol- find any allusion to it in the books of low in going to the convent from Burckhardt, Robinson, Sianley, or other Wady er-Sheikh, while those who go travellers, I have thought it my duty to the convent by Wady er-Ralah pass to inform the public of the fact, in on the west side of the bill. On the order that future travellers may not south side of this bili is the camping-fail to see it. Could we suppose that ground, and in getting to it we inade Moses had a rod about six feet long, a short circuit of five minutes' ride to and that, raising the lower end of it avoid a precipitous bank. On arriving as high as his head, struck it obliquely at our camping-ground we requested against the granite cliff, and that a our cameleers, before dispersing to our wedge-shaped cavity was thus miracuhomes, to fill their barrels with water. lously formed, this rent would meet They said they would take two of them the conditions exactly. to a spring where there was a reser- I would simply state that I made voir, into which they would place them. the above discovery on the 26th of They pointed out to us the direction, February. on the west side of the valley, under Horeb, and we perceived a few trees at that place. Towards evening I told my party that I would go and see whether they had filled and sunk the barrels in the pool. The direction of the spring was straight across the valley from the camping-ground.

THE TOWER OF BABEL.

AFTER a ride of eight miles, says a writer in Blackwood, we were at the foot of the Biers Nimrood. Our horses' feet were trampling upon the remaius After leaving the tents, in about two of bricks, which showed here and there minutes I ascended the ground where through the accumulated dust and rubwe made the circuit, then passed down bish of ages. Before our eyes uprose a slight declivity, after which the a great mound of earth, barren and ground gradually rose until I reached bare. This was the Bier Nimrood, the the spring, in about ten minutes, by a ruins of the Tower of Babel, by which rugged path over large boulders of the first builders of the earth had syenite. Here I was surprised to find vainly hoped to scale bigh heaven. a fine spring of pure water issuing from Here also it was that Nebuchadnezzar a rent in the rock. The rent was in built-for bricks bearing his name have an oblique direction, the highest part been found in the ruins. At the top of it on the left, and sloping down of the mound, a great mass of brick towards the right. The lowest part of work pierces the accumulated soil. the fissure was as high as a man's head With your finger you touch the very from the ground. The surrounding bricks, large, square-shaped, and masrock is the solid red granite of Sinai, sive, that were" thoroughly" burued; smooth on the face, and unbroken by the very mortar-the slime," now fissure or seain. The fissure is about hard as granite-handled more than six feet long, four inches wide, five four thousand years ago by earth's inches deep at the bottom, and twelve impious people. From the summit of at the top, and runs down into the the mound, far away over the plain, rock parallel with the perpendicular we could see glistening, brilliant as a side of the mountain. The water star, the gilded dome of a mosque, seems to issue about two feet above that caught and reflected the bright the bottom of the rent, flowing over rays of the morning sun. This glitterthe lowest part of it in a stream about the thickness of a man's fiuger.

The reservoir is about twelve feet long by five in width, and four feet deep, and was nearly full when I reached the place. When full, the water is let off, to irigate some

ing speck was the tomb of the holy Aly. To pray before this at some period of his life, to kiss the sacred dust of the earth around, there at some time or other to bend his body and count his beads, is the daily desire of every devout Mohammedan.

Christian Work.

BARON CANSTEIN,

THE FOUNDER OF THE FIRST BIBLE
SOCIETY.

faces, full of the joy he felt in the work-a joy that irradiated the whole evening of his days. He willingly undertook the fatigues connected with IN the second half of the seventeenth the management, which could not century, the minds of earnest Christians have been slight. He saw many thouwere much occupied with the question, sands of Bibles issue from the press, "How to spread God's word among the he heard how to all parts of his fatherthe people at large?" For, though land, as well as to foreign countries, the amount of spiritual advantage that even to India, the results of his scheme a universally accessible Bible would had reached. He knew what an eager confer, could hardly be conceived of demand existed for the sacred books at by them, yet it was felt that Luther's their places of sale in Halle, so that,on version was a gift to all who spoke one occasion, the doors had actually to the German tongue, and many voices be closed lest copies that were already loudly declared that it ought to be put by for some should be carried off found in every family. by the impetuous desire of others.

But even in the cheapest form the Bible was so costly that it was a rare thing indeed to find one belonging to the poor.

CHRISTIAN WORK IN LARGE
CITIES IN AMERICA.

There is some obscurity as to the special causes that first led the Baron A MODE of Christian work in large von Canstein, in 1710, to think seriously cities has been carried forward with about remedying this evil. However, for several months, he exchanged long letters with the bookseller Ellers, and with Francke in Halle, and the result was a matured scheme, of which the chief features were as follows:

1st. Christian love was to furnish capital to set up a printing-press for Bibles only, which were to be sold at a very low profit.

2nd. The stereotype was to be used (an improvement then very recently introduced in Holland).

3rd. The traffic in these cheap Bibles was to be carried on independently of and apart from the book-trade.

A visible blessing attended each step that the Baron took during the nine years that yet remained to him to devote to the cause. Its fame was widely spread, and very soon its success was fully secured.

great success in the United States by individual congregations. That of which the late and lamented Dr. J. W. Alexander was pastor, in New York, sent forth some of its own members to survey the destitute portions of the city, and their investigations ended in the successful establishment of mission churches amongst the poor and destitute.

Dr. W. Adams' congregation, in the same city, followed immediately and closely in the steps of Dr. Alexander's, as well as in their successes.

A more striking case is that of Dr. Albert Barnes's church and congregation in Philadelphia. A new church was erected at a cost of £10,000, and was soon filled with rich and moderately well off people in the neighbourhood. There was a good school, in addition to the large settled congregation. But it Of the various donations made to it was felt that the destitute and poor were we shall only mention three, of a thou- not reached. A society was formed by sand dollars each; one by the Baron the congregation for city missionary himself, another by Prince Charles of work, and two brethren sent out to Denmark, and a third by Sophia Louisa, survey the destitute portion of the third wife of Frederick I., King of city. The chief purpose of this orgaPrussia. In 1712, the first Testaments nization was to gather together a few appeared, the following year the first children in a rented room, visit their Bibles. In both the Baron wrote pre-parents, and hold occasional meetings

Early Persecutions of the General Baptists.

17

for prayer and exhortation. A room ing and relieving the poor of London. was rented and was soon filled to over- They belong to a regular society for flowing. It was then proposed to em- the purpose, and the secretary writes ploy a regular missionary, and to purchase ground for a church, lecture-room and school room,-the school to be erected first. One gentleman then connected with the mother church purchased the site, in fee, and presented it to the working society, and another gentle man built the church and school-rooms at his own expense. The scholars numbered 500, and upwards, and the congregation was at least 400. Two other places have sprung into existence in the same way.

A NOBLE OCCUPATION. DR. NORMAN MACLEOD, lecturing recently at Glasgow, made a most remarkable statement. There are no less than seventy-five officers of the Guards who aid in the work of visit

to Dr. Macleod that they are foremost in going down day by day to relieve the poor in the most squalid districts. If that statement be correct-of which we have no doubt-it is the most remarkable testimony yet offered to the social advance which has commenced in England. When Guardsmen pocket their dignity that Bethnalgreen may be happier, the hereditary bitterness of class against class seems in a very fair way of removal. A I soldier of the same order, the order which cares whether its gloves fit, Captain Jackson, is one of the most untiring and successful among living philanthropists, has, perhaps, done more to reduce the average of crime and punishment in the army than any other single man,

General Baptist Incidents.

EARLY PERSECUTIONS OF THE ing an aspect, Mr. J. Aldridge applied GENERAL BAPTISTS.

to Sir Wolston Dixie, a magistrate of Bosworth, for advice and protection; who informed him, that it would be lawful to resist such a mob; and even to fire upon them, if they proceeded to attack their dwelling-houses; but recommended more lenient measures, and promised to discountenance all future disturbers of their worship. Thus encouraged, Mr. Aldridge resolved to take the preacher under his own protection, as his rank and property gave him more influence than Mr. Whyatt possessed; and, when Mr. Taylor arrived, on the following Saturday, be

JOHN TAYLOR often visited Barton Fabis, Leicestershire, and preached there. On one occasion, a number of persons from Nailstone, a village a mile distant, assembled and endeavoured to disturb the worship. Some tied bells round their bodies, and danced about the place others sung and swore: and all united in the most violent threats against the preacher and his abettors. Mr. Taylor, after repeated attempts, in which he received gross insult and abuse, finding it impossible to proceed with the service, was obliged to consult his own safety, and secretly conducted them to his own house. withdrew. Having thus prevented the preaching the mob retired. But a far-sembled, headed by the constable of mer, not pleased with the escape of the minister,caused it to be proclaimed, with sound of horn, through the neighbouring villages, that whoever would attend and assist in taking the Methodist parson, the next time he came, wheresoever he should be found, should be rewarded with a barrel of ale; and indemnified, should the house be pulled down where he was.

Finding things assume so threaten

B

Towards night, a numerous mob as

Nailstone, and some of the principal farmers. They marched to Mr.Whyatt's house to seize the preacher; but not finding him, they proceeded to search every house in the village, till they arrived at Mr. Aldridge's. Here a few people had assembled to meet the minister, and were preparing to commence social worship, when they observed several hundreds of people rush tumultuously into the yard. The out

ward door was instantly locked and his neck violently bent across it, and

threatened with immediate death. Others had their clothes torn to pieces, were pelied with mud, and led through the most miry places that could be found. They arrived, late, at Nailstone, when they set at liberty all the prisoners, except J. Taylor the minisier, aud J. Whyat. The former they confined in a chamber at an Ion; and permitted the latter to sit by the kitchen five. After a time, they would have dismissed Mr. Wbyait, but he refused to leave his minister; and through the night, experienced every indiguity which the malice of his enraged persecutors could devise; all which he supported like a disciple of the lowly Jesus. In the morning be visited bis family; but regardless of the fatigues of the night, returned to Nailstone church, in time for the forenoon service. Here be met Mr. Taylor, who, though a prisoner, would not omit what he thought his duty; but attended public worship, at the same place, under a guard; for these good men had not yet formed any system of their own, or entertained any design of deserting the established church.

almost as soon broken open. Mr. Aldridge's brother, seizing his gun, bastened to the passage, and threatened to shoot those who advanced: but, while he hesitated, tbe mob rusbed violently upon him, and wrenching the gun out of his hand, discharged it into the air. The inner door being fastened they attempted to force it open, by thrusting their fingers between the door aud door-posis. One of Mr. Aldridge's sisters, in order to induce the rabble to desist, thoughtlessly took a cleaver, and drawing it down the side of the door, wounded the fingers that were endeavouring to force it open. This imprudent action roused the fury of the assailanis to the utmost pitch. They burst the door in an instant, and seizing Mr. Aldridge's father, an infirm old man, they dragged him into the yard, and insulted and bruised bin in a cruel manner. His wife, though she had shut herself in a parlour, was treated with the same barbarity. The preacher, the chief object of their rage, had secured himself in a separate apartment; but bis retreat was quickly discovered by his enraged pursuers. They haled him out, amidst The next morning, the constable, acshouts of triumph, and the most hor-companied by the most active rioters, rid oaths and imprecations. Having carried Mr. Taylor before Sir Wolston secured several of the people, they Dixie, and laid heavy charges against conducted them and the minister him and bis followers, exhibiting the first to Nailstone, where they exhibited them, as trophies of victory, from house to house. From thence they returned to Osbaston, in hopes of receiving some reward for their exploits from a gentleman of that place, but he properly refused to countenance such disgraceful conduct.

wounded fingers as proofs of their accusations. Sir William naturally enquired into the cause of these wounds, and the explanation afforded bim great amusement. Yet he treated the preacher and his friends with contempt and harshness; and notwithstanding his former promises, he showed a disThe evening being now far advanced position to excuse every measure that they returned to Nailstone, treating tended to suppress the Methodists, as their prisoners, on the way, in a most he tauntingly styled them. But, not savage manner. They threw Mr. Al- choosing to commit himself by any dridge into a fish-pood, and two of the decision, he bound the parties over to mob, being accidentally pushed in with the next quarter sessions. On leaving him, they endeavoured to force him be the magistrates, the mob, encouraged yond his depth, threatening to drown by the countenance which they had rehim if he would not recant. He bore ceived, pursued the objects of their their insults with Christian meekness, batred for several miles across the till he perceived his life to be really in fields; and overtaking J. Whyatt, danger; when, being a strong young plunged him into a ditch, and otherman, he easily plunged his persecutors wise abused him. At Osbaston, a large in the water, and made his escape. bonfire was made, as a token of rejoicing Joseph Donisthorpe, of Normanton, for the defeat of the Methodists, whom who was one of the prisoners, was they threatened with utter destrucseized by the hair, dragged to a gate, tion.

Science and Art.

by F. A. Eton, Esq. Mr. E. supplemented his paper by a reference to the singular physical features of El-Lejah, which he described as a rock fastness frequented by several of the Druse chiefs, fugitives from the recent disturbances in Lebanon, and inaccessible except by one or two passes to the westward, where two men could keep an army at bay. Every other side is an escarped wall of rock.

FOSSIL CORALS.-In a valuable me- | products of the island,-a fair sound tea, moir by Dr. P. Martin Duncan, F.G.S., rice, sugar, jute, grass-cloth fibre. The on the Fossil Corals of the West Indian second paper was entitled, "A Journey Islands, some most interesting generali- from Nazareth to Bozrah and Moab," zations are arrived at respecting the distribution of these organisms as a means of testing the relative distribution of land and water during past geological periods. Dr. Duncan, after alluding to the theory of Heer, suggests that a series of islands, formed very much like the Antilles, with coral reefs round them, extending from the mid-Pacific across to Europe, would account for the relation between the Miocene Corals of the Old and New World, and those of the Galapagos and East Indian raised beds, as well as the relation between the former and the recent species of the great seas to the west of America.

PROPAGATION OF HEAT.-M. Stefan has communicated to the Vienna Academy some mathematical researches on the propagation of heat, and considers that the results he has obtained justify the proposition "that heat propagates itself by radiation with the rapidity of light, by transmission with the rapidity of sound."

Two INDEPENDENT DISCOVERERS OF ONE PLANET.-It is somewhat curious that the planet (97), discovered on the 14th September last by Mr. James Watson, Director of the Observatory at Ann Arbour, was also independently discovered by M. Temple of Marseilles, on the 3rd or 4th of October. He notified the discovery to Herr Peters on the 13th of the same month, and gave a rough calculation of its position and apparent magnitude.

PHOTOGRAPHY, it now appears, was invented at the close of the last century by Mr. Matthew Boulton, Soho, near Birmingham. Several very excellent specimens of his work exist. It is thought that Mr. Boulton's process was even better than that now known, judging from the results, but this has yet to be discovered.

BUST OF SHAKESPEARE.-Her Majesty has commissioned Mr. Perry, the woodcarver, to execute for her another bust of Shakespeare from a piece of Herne's Oak.

MOSAICS OF MESSRS. MINTON.-Messrs. Minton have succeeded in overcoming the difficulty that has hitherto attended the production of mosaics in this country. They are now able to make all colours and every shade of colour producible in earthenware, including gilt tesseræ, in the same material. Messrs. Powell, of Whitefriars, have produced satisfactory gold mosaics in glass, and been very successful in producing the vermillions and crimsons not hitherto obtainable, and there is no doubt that they will ultimately succeed in doing what has been accomplished in this order of art at St. Petersburg.

THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. -The third meeting this session was held in the Society's Rooms, on Monday, Dec. 14. Lord Strangford, in the abscence of Sir R. Murchison, in the chair. MOSAICS FOR UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, The first paper read was "Notes on the LONDON.—Mr. Grote, the historian of Island of Formosa," by Robert Swinhoe, Greece, who is one of the council of F.G.S., Her Majesty's Vice-Consul, at University College, London, and at preTai-Wau-Foo, on that island. Mr. S. sent treasurer of the college, has offered referred to the difficulty of navigating to put up at his own expense, on the the coast of Formosa; to the number walls of the cloister of the college in of excellent harbours on the south end Gower-street, a mosaic representation of of the island; to the excellent lignite scenes and persons of the Homeric poems, coal to be got at Coal Harbour, in the to be executed by the Parisian sculptor, north-east corner; and to the various the Baron de Triqueti.