Do reverence where devotion paints
God, and his mother, and the saints."
Vaunting his gods the prior stood,

And showed them carved in stone and wood.
With head erect and knee unbent,

Straight to the stake the martyr went,
But as he passed the convent-door
Rebuked the blasphemy once more:
"Our God will make his glory known,
And break your toys of wood and stone ;
He will reprove you to your face

For these delusions vile and base,
Will bring your secret crimes to mind,
And bare their shame to all mankind."
But though his firm and godlike zeal,
Priest, friar, and monk are doomed to feel;
Yea, though he could to blood withstand
The idols of a guilty land,

To God he urged a sinner's need,
And his last words for pardon plead.

"Lord! to the sinner at thy feet,

Mercy by thy full measure mete."
The blood now bursting from my veins
Is powerless to atone ;

Then cleanse my soul-defiling stains,
Redeemer, in thine own!

A. N.

CHAPTERS ON SCRIPTURE GEOGRAPHY.

No. V.

MADAI, GOMER AND HIS SONS.

FROM Madai (says Josephus, Vol. i. p. 83) came the Madeans, who are called Medes by the Greeks. This valiant people, spoken of in Scripture as that " bitter and hasty nation," and described in Isa. xiii. 17, 18, as most barbarous and cruel, inhabited the country called originally Iran. They are not to be confounded with the Shemite Persians, who now hold that country, and who sprang from Elam, and spoke apparently a different language. The tongue of the children of Madai was Sanskrit, that language which, we believe, will be found, with more or less modification, to belong to the tribes of Japheth. From Media the north of India was rapidly peopled. One of the earliest names of the Medes was Arii, which Lassen supposes to be etymologically identical with the word Arya, by which the followers of the Brahminical religion are designated in Sanskrit. Amongst the early tribes which peopled Germany, the Arii are often mentioned; and, though perhaps it is difficult now to distinguish which of the European nations sprang from Madai, and which from Gomer, yet there is no doubt that some of the nations of central Europe, (possibly the Prussians) owed their origin to Madai; and we think it probable that, as investigation

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is made into these subjects, and the end more closely approaches, the European Medes will be discovered. Lord Lindsay, in his work entitled, Progression by Antagonism,' has brought much learning, and perhaps still more imagination, to bear upon this subject. The Medes of old were the great means of effecting the destruction of ancient Babylon, and, it may be, that their European descendants will, under some modern name, be employed by God for the pulling down of the Babylon of the New Testament, and we shall then see clearly, who were intended in the canons of prophecy.

Gomer. The name of this eldest son of Japheth, remains indelibly impressed upon many of the European nations. According to tradition, Gomer himself settled in that lovely and fertile region still called the Crimea, and spread over the Cimmerian Bosphorus. Josephus tells us, that Galatia was peopled from him, from which place the Gauls came as a colony, invading Italy, and peopling France. The Cymri also of Wales, and the Celts of Ireland, Spain, and Brittany, apparently own Gomer for their great ancestor. His three sons, Aschenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah, appear to have remained originally near the Euxine, in the vicinity of their father. On the East of the Euxine, we find a country Askania, and a river Askanius. The Basques in the North of Spain, are said by geographers to have migrated from this part of the world. The land of Ashkenaz is only once named in Scripture in Jer. li. 27, and in this passage the Jews interpret the word 'Saxons.' Riphath, or Diphath, as he is called in 1 Chron. i. 6, is not again separately mentioned in Scripture. His early home, like his brothers, seems to have been to the East of the Euxine, where were a people named Rhibii. Tobata, parts of ancient Paphlagonia, and Croatia, are said to

owe their origin to him; and ancient geographers and classical writers speak of the great chain of hilly country, now called by the name of Alps, Uralian and Hartz mountains, under the name of the Riphoan Mountains.

Togarmah, who, with all his bands, is represented in Ezekiel as coming up with Gog against the land of Israel, seems to have inhabited that part of the country of Asia now called the Caucasus. The Armenian traditions assign as their ancestor Haik, the son of Torgoun, and grandson of Noah; and there seems no reason to doubt the authenticity of the tradition. Under this view, the present struggle of Russia in the Caucasus may be viewed by the scriptural student with peculiar interest, and we may suppose that that mountain barrier will at length give way before the assaults of Magog, so that his passage into the East will no longer be checked. Thus we have given a rapid sketch of the settlements of Japheth, with the exception of Ziras, who is agreed on all hands to have settled in Thrace; and we have seen the light which prophecy throws upon modern geography, on countries, which, although their names have been changed repeatedly on the maps of time, have remained stationary under the titles of their fathers, in the records of eternity. We have seen that the grand destiny of Japheth was colonization, and that Europe and the North of Asia, with the vast western colonies, belonged to him. God has enlarged Japheth, but it will be a sad return for former favours, if the great bulk of his children should, in the last days, be found fighting against the Lord God of Shem. We are happy, however, to think that, beyond the great northern powers of Magog, Tubal, and Meshech, and Gomer with his children, who, probably from their chief locality are dependent upon them, the other sons of

Japheth, are not mentioned as assisting in the great confederacy. May we not hope that Madai and Tarshish at least may be found on the Lord's side, and that Protestant Europe may yet make head against both spiritual and temporal despotism.

In the next paper, we shall proceed to notice some of the renowned children of Ham.

X. Y. Z.

The rise of the pretended Church.-When the Author of confusion discovered that the Almighty was building his own Church, undismayed, he erected his counterfeit chapel close at hand, and this was his motive. He saw that God sanctified his Church by making use of external means in baptism, the ministry of the Word, and the Eucharist, and Keys, and because he is perpetually rivalling and imitating the Almighty, and improving upon the divine works, he adopted also external modes of conferring holiness. He invented the custom of consecrating and blessing water, salt, herbs, candles, bells, pictures, palls, altars, clocks, shaven crowns, and what not! The last invention, holiest of all, was the Monk's cowl, in which many have died and been buried to ensure their salvation. No doubt it is an excellent rule to use the word of God, to ask his blessing in prayer, when we partake of his gifts of creation, because every creature of God is good, and is sanctified by the word and prayer. (1 Tim. iv.) Such practice imparts to the creatures no new power, but they become confirmed in their former efficacy.-Luther.