by Christ himself, and witnesses of his sufferings; evangelists or travelling preachers; and pastors and teachers, appointed from the churches themselves. There is no doubt but that the number in all these classes was large, and also that there was, to a considerable extent, a division of labor. The attainment of a considerable age was an indispensable qualification. Moses and Aaron were about eighty when called into public employments. It was ordained that the sons of Levi must be thirty years of age, before they could enter on their work. John, the forerunner of our Lord, and our Lord himself, were about thirty years of age, before they commenced their ministry. A name appropriated by the writers of the New Testament to the early preachers was presbyters, which shows that they had generally attained the full age of adults, or that the first ministers were taken from the elder classes. Paul requires Timothy not to ordain those for bishops who were novices, or lately converted, not having experience and judgment. We may, therefore, conclude, that adult age was an essential qualification in the Jewish and New Testament economies. Great importance was attached to human learning. Why was Moses-the writer of nearly a fourth part of the Old Testament, and the only historian for the first twenty-four hundred years in the history of our earth-learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, then the most enlightened people in the world? Why was not an illiterate man commissioned for this purpose? Why were schools of the prophets early instituted, in which young men could avail themselves, for a number of years, of the instructions and experience of the venerable Samuels and Elishas? Why did the later prophets utter such vehement denunciations against large classes of ignorant and low minded priests, who could not teach and would not learn? Why was the mind of Paul selected as the depository of almost half of the revelations of the New Testament, a mind no less illustrious for original strength and compass, than for the variety and excellence of its acquisitions? No answer can be given to these inquiries, except that it is the general arrangement of Providence to employ the best human agencies for the accomplishment of its purposes. The gospel does not war with genuine philosophy. It is with science falsely so called. In the words of a distinguished modern writer, Christianity has nothing to fear, but every thing to hope, from the discoveries of science." The Bible further teaches, that the ministry is not to be assumed without serious deliberation and prayer. The instances of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, are full of instruction. Our Saviour spent the whole night in prayer, before he chose his apostles. He also commanded, most authoritatively, "Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest." When Paul and Barnabas were set apart to their great work among the heathen, the church "fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, and sent them away." The above are the main points of instruction which are found in the Scriptures. Great principles, if not minute directions, are there developed, to which we shall do well to take heed. WANTS OF THE WORLD. THE destitution of ministers and missionaries is very great and affecting. The whole world lieth in wickedness. The devil still goes forth as a roaring lion, preying upon unhappy man. At the rate in which the conversion of the world is now going on, the work will occupy one hundred and fifty centuries. Nothing effectual can be done without qualified laborers. The London Missionary Society cannot find them in England. The American Board are now ready to send out to heathen lands the whole annual supply of men, which the American Education Society furnish. Before a sufficient number of missionaries and ministers can be brought into the field, one third part of the pagan world, or two hundred millions of immortal beings, will have gone into eternity without the gospel. Immense, therefore, are the obligations of Christians now on the stage. Great is the responsibility of every young man, who is called to meditate on this momentous subject. Two or three thousand young men ought to enter this year on a course of preparation for the Christian ministry. The fields are white already to the harvest. The dying nations are eagerly stretching out their hands for the bread of life. ever. In our own country, the want of ministers is as great, if not greater, than The efforts for supply, as it would seem, have done little else but lay bare the nakedness of the land. At least one half of the inhabitants of the valley of the Mississippi, have not yet chosen their religion, or determined to which of the Christian denominations they will belong. Two millions of men, in that valley are, therefore, nearly indifferent in respect to the whole subject of religion. There are but 500 Presbyterian ministers, in that valley, on a large calculation. There is commonly estimated to be about 1,300,000 square miles of territory in the valley, and if we suppose 800,000 miles entirely uninhabited, the 500 ministers must occupy 500,000 square miles, or 1,000 square miles each. The destitution in many portions of the southern country is very great. Some parts of New England, in respect to the enjoyment of the means of grace, are retrograde. In the State of Vermont, it is estimated, that one fourth of the population do not attend public worship, on the Sabbath, of any description. This is to be ascribed particularly to the want of ministers. In a single county of that State, containing seventeen towns, there are but five Congregational ministers. The condition of the cities is still more deplorable. In Boston there are, as it is stated, 21,000, and in New York 135,000 people destitute of any religious instruction whatever. Efforts, therefore, altogether unprecedented, must be made for the religious instruction of our countrymen. The subject must be approached in the anxious deliberations of all the pious young men throughout the country. This momentous theme must not be overlooked. The people in our own and other lands are perishing by millions. There is a famine, not of bread, but of hearing the word of God. If a young man consent to allow any considerations of private emolument, or worldly reputation, to deter him from entering on the ministry, will he not show that he loves mammon more than the souls of men, that, pro vided he can be rich in this world's goods, or honorable in the opinion of men, who are living at enmity with God, he is willing that his brethren, for whom Christ died, should perish unpitied and unrescued? Where is his love to his Redeemer? Where is that mind of Christ, which he has declared to be in him? Let him see that he does not betray his trust; that he does not defraud Christ of his own; that he does not subject himself to the bitter imprecations of men, who shall be miserable forever, through his cold neglect and cruel indifference. STATUE OF MEMNON, AT THEBES. THE idea of Memnon does not appear to have originated with the Egyptian priests; nor, indeed, could it, since Memnon was neither an Egyptian, nor the person the colossus represented. This name must have been totally unknown to them; and the Theban, who was asked if the statue was of Memnon, naturally replied in the negative, and informed the inquirer that it was of Amenoph, or Ph'amenoph, his compatriot and an Egyptian monarch. According to Greek or Roman mythology, he was the reputed son of Tithonus and Aurora, names unknown in the Pantheon of Egypt. Strabo mentions it merely as the colossus, and questions the possibility of a stone giving utterance to a sound. The misnomer of Memnon, seems unquestionably to have originated in the ignorance of those strangers, who visited Thebes. The mass of Roman visitors were blinded by a poetical tradition, and the belief of a fancied miracle. The musical sound of Memnon has been variously recorded according to the feelings of writers. Juvenal mentions it as a magic string; and historians, who borrowed the account from enthusiastic travellers, have run into the popular error, and noticed it as a "vocal sound," or the "bursting of a harp-string." Strabo more accurately compares it to the effect of a slight blow. Julia Balilla, who visited it along with the emperor Adrian, recorded the event in a copy of twelve verses, in which she not only compares the sound to the striking of brass, but expressly says that "Memnon emitted this metallic sound a second time," in the presence of the Roman monarch. In 1824, Mr. J. G. Wilkinson, in company with Mr. Burton, ascended to the lap of the statue, where they observed the sonorous quality of a block of fine grit-stone placed immediately over the girdle; and both agreed as to the possibility of still deceiving a traveller, who might be disposed to credit its vocal powers. On a second visit in 1830, Mr. W., placing some peasants below, struck the sonorous block with a small hammer. The peasants, on being asked if they heard any thing, replied, "you are striking brass." The height of the colossus from the base to the top of the head was about sixty feet, and represented, as is concluded, Amenoph III., a Theban or Diospolite monarch, the ninth king of the eighteenth dynasty, being as the Thebans justly observed, not the statue of Memnon, but of their countryman Ph'amenoph. By the accumulation of the alluvial deposit of the Nile, it is now about fifty-three feet above the level of the plain. The 46 VOL. VII. upper part above the waist had been broken and thrown down, according to some accounts, by the effect of an earthquake, according to others, by the order of Cambyses. The stone of which it is made is a coarse grit-stone, the only rock, with one exception, of this nature, which has been discovered in Egypt. It is studded with chalcedonies, and has an iron color, caused by an abundance of the red and black oxide of that metal. The upper part has been repaired with horizontal layers of sand-stone, and at the girdle is a recess, partly cut and partly rough, of sufficient size to contain a man in a recumbent position, who might thence strike the sounding block, which is placed above. The position of this stone, of smaller dimensions than those constituting the repaired part of the colossus, seems purposely chosen, in order to render it sonorous, by leaving the inner and outer sides free from pressure, and with a weight merely on the top. A person in the recess could not be seen from any part of the plain of Thebes, and the ascent of the too curious skeptic would be sufficiently prevented, by the impossibility of reaching the spot without a ladder, and by the interference of those interested in preventing it. NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Brief Views of the Saviour, with Reflections on his Doctrines, Parables, etc. Designed chiefly for the Young. By O. A. TAYLOR, A. M. Andover: Gould & Newman. 1835. pp. 264. This work is in part a translation, on an extended paraphrase-plan of a life of Jesus Christ, for children, in German, by J. F. Feddersen, court and cathedral preacher in Brunswick, and in part an original composition, by Mr. Taylor. Along with remarks on the life, labors, and miracles of the Saviour, are interwoven a variety of pleasing lessons of wisdom, morality and piety. It is marked by great simplicity, by a calm and quiet spirit, and it is filled with pure and heavenly thoughts. It thus affords a striking contrast to the bustling, practical, superficial character of multitudes of the books, which are printed, and, especially, which are republished in this country. Mr. Taylor will receive the thanks, we doubt not, of many persons, for his labor. It is as well adapted for adults as for children, and for one denomination of Christians as for another. The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments; translated out of the original tongues, and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. Arranged in paragraphs and parallelisms, with philological and explanatory annotations. By T. W. Coir, D. D., President of Transylvania University. Cambridge: Manson & Grant. Boston: William Peirce. 1834. pp. 1,183. The peculiarities of this Bible are the following:-The old chapters and verses of the English Bible are disregarded, and the attempt is made to have its divisions conformable to its tenor of sentiment. The arrangement of the poetry in parallelisms is another prominent feature. The accents of the Masorites have generally been esteemed the best guide concerning them, at least in Isaiah and some other portions of the Old Testament. Very particular attention has been paid to the punctuation. The exclamation-point has been frequently introduced; and the interrogation-point substituted for the colon and semicolon. In the poetry, the dash is employed, as well adapted to display the antithesis or epexegesis. A uniform system of printing the capitals has been, to a considerable extent, pursued. Very brief annotations are inserted at the bottom of the page. In the Minor Prophets, these annotations are somewhat extended. The various readings, and the translators' address to the reader, are among the additions to the volume. We have not had time accurately to examine this Bible, but from a cursory inspection, and from what we know of the editor's taste and accuracy, we do not doubt but that the promises made in the preface are accomplished. In respect to mechanical execution, it is one of the most finished specimens of the Scriptures, which have ever been issued from the press in this country. The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, illustrated in a course of serious and practical Addresses, by P. DODDRIDGE, D. D. With an Introductory Essay, by JOHN FOSTER. Boston: Perkins, Marvin, & Co. 1835. pp. 508. The whole appearance of this volume is of the most gratifying kind, and greatly in advance of any preceding American edition of the work. We do not think there is to be found in the English language a better essay on practical religion than the one of Foster's, printed in this volume. The appeals which it addresses to an unbelieving world, are sufficient, it would seem, to awake the dead. The peculiarities of the writer's style do not appear so prominently as in some of his other essays. The most vigorous thoughts are expressed in the most energetic language. The Religious Offering, for 1835. New York: Leavitt, Lord, & Co. 1835. pp. 176. This work answers, in some degree, to the annuals, which are periodically issued from the press, while it is exclusively of a moral or religious character. The articles have been prepared expressly and solely for the work, with the exception of a very few, which had previously appeared in print. All are from the pen of the same gentleman, who is extensively and favorably known to the literary and religious community. The design of the volume is excellent, and the thoughts and language such as will gratify the man of taste and piety. The pieces are in general very short; a large portion of them being scriptural sonnets, or brief expositions in verse of passages of Scripture. The production of sacred poetry of high order is certainly an object deserving of all encouragement. We have been gratified and instructed by a perusal of many of the pieces in the volume. The following we give as a specimen. "THE GOOD SHEPHERD. The shepherd loves his flock; with care he guides An Address delivered before the Philadelphian Society in Middlebury College, Aug. 18, 1834. By EDWARD W. HOOKER. Windsor: Chronicle Press. 1834. pp. 20. The object of this address is to show the importance of the union of eminent piety with eminent scientific and literary attainments. In order to accomplish this most desirable union, the following things are considered to be necessary. The maintenance of a spirit of prayer; the pursuit of studies with an habitual reference to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ; Christian conscientiousness and diligence in study; close |