others also;" men who will neither faint at the sight of the empty scrip, nor stagger in the storm, nor quail in the presence of the harnessed Philistine, nor turn their backs in the day of battle; but who, relying on Divine aid, will make full proof of their ministry, saying to each form of opposition, "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain." Plead that each Minister may be sent to that station for which his talents are best adapted, and in which he will bring most glory to God. Plead that the great "Author of peace and Lover of concord" may give to both Ministers and people impressive views and deep convictions of the necessity and desirableness of Christian unity; and of the exceeding sinfulness, as well as of the demoralising consequences, of discord and division. Plead earnestly and incessantly, that, while Romish and infidel armies are mustering in such force, while iniquity and error abound on every side, we, as a community, may be prepared to put forth, in the pending struggle, whatever wealth and working energy, whatever talent, time, and influence we may possess, as the call of our great Captain shall require.

But Methodism has never existed for sectarian purposes. Let us therefore pray that, in all communities, men may be drawn off from superstitious observances, unscriptural assumptions, and acrimonious controversies; that it may be made manifest to all men wherein true religion consists, what are its great duties, and how its blessings may be secured. Let us pray, “with all prayer and supplication," that God may cause Christians generally to be "of one mind, having compassion one on another," to "love as brethren," to "be pitiful" and "courteous ;""not rendering railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing, knowing that they are thereunto called, that they should inherit a blessing." Let us pray that all who name the name of Christ may have grace to avoid, in spirit, in speech, and in action, whatever would gender strife or aggravate party differences; and that, however provoked, we may still "lay aside all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, with all malice;" that we all may be "followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour."

Finally, let us trust only in "God, who raiseth the dead;" and who "hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things that are mighty." Prayer, self-renouncing prayer, is the duty to which we are now specially called. Without attempting to fix particular hours, it is recommended that a portion of each morning and evening be consecrated to this sacred service in private; as also that the theme be taken up and urged at the family altar, and in the social circle. Be intent not only on performing the duty, but on prevailing in it. Let us plead that on all our Societies, Ministers, Class-Leaders, Local Preachers, and Sunday-school Teachers, the Spirit may be poured out in wondrous power, and that the result of this Conference may be a general revival of pure and undefiled religion. United prayer, such as that to which we invite you, has been extensively offered up, and not in vain, by the godly members of the Free Church in Scotland, in connexion with the recent Meeting of their Assembly. Imitate their example, and you will share their reward. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

June, 1851.

CEPHAS.

ROMANISM AT ROME IN THE SPRING OF 1851.

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT OF THE SCOTTISH GUARDIAN.) WHEN the Pope was in exile, he addressed two letters to the Clergy, and a placard to the Roman people, commanding the former to make a collection, to continue for one year, in order to build a cathedral in London, and promising one hundred days' indulgence to whoever shall contribute any donation to that great work. In an address on the subject, a Clergyman, an Anglican pervert, said,-"They tell us our object is the turning of the people in that great city to the communion of Rome. We do not deny it. London once ours, we have England; and, having England, with its communication with all the nations of the earth, we have the means of spreading the true faith till the whole world is again united in the one true Church.".

To-day I heard the Pope say mass in St. Peter's to about a hundred thousand people, and afterwards pronounce the annual blessing from the front of that church. His voice is loud, but beautiful and sweet. The mass was said in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The Deacon on the right hand of the Pope was an Armenian Archbishop, and on the left the Patriarch of Jerusalem, apparently of Jewish extraction, and with a beard a foot long. All the splendour of the Church was lavished on the ceremony, -the candlesticks and altar-vessels solid gold, the Deacons all Cardinals, and the Pope's guard all nobles in the most splendid scarlet and gold

costume.

The Pope was carried in and out on shoulders, with two large fans like peacocks' tails carried on each side of him,-a remnant, I am told, of Heathenism. As they carried him out, they set him down in his chair before St. Peter's shrine, before which he knelt; and just then a bell was rung on a balcony above the shrine, and three Priests came out, one bearing the lance which pierced the Saviour, (!) the other two on each side with their hands before them as if praying. The spear was lifted on high three times; and then they went in and brought out St. Veronica's handkerchief, on which is a likeness of the Saviour, obtained by her wiping His face with it on His way up to Calvary!

At the church of Santa Maria Maggiore we heard vespers. On the high altar stood some relics which had just been exhibited. Several Cardinals were present. One, dressed in golden robes and mitre, filled the throne in the choir, surrounded by Deacons and church officials. The music, I thought, surpassed any I had heard in Rome,-perhaps because I understood it better. Two of the voices in the choir were the most surprising I ever heard; one, rich and loud, and the other, one of the Pope's sopranos, (eunuchs,) like no human sound I ever heard.

One

I inquired of an official what the relics on the grand altar were. was the head of a sainted Pope, another the arm of St. Luke, a third a bit of the true cross; another the front of the shirt or tunic of God!! I would scarcely have ventured to repeat this, had not a Glasgow gentleman been standing near me who could confirm what I say.

I also saw in Ara Cœli the Bambino, a wooden doll, with clothes worth five or six thousand pounds, which is as clearly worshipped as any heathen idol ever was.* It is a source of great wealth to the church, and is taken

* See Seymour's "Pilgrimage to Rome."

out sometimes four times a day in a splendid equipage with attendants to visit the sick. To keep up the cheat, the Cardinals when sick send for it. Before opening the casket in which it is enclosed, in order to show it to us, they lit four candles. Two of the diamonds on its dress were as large as my coat-buttons.*

Speaking of image-worship, I asked a learned Doctor of Laws, with whom I am reading Italian, if any Priest could say what the "Bishop of Birmingham" had said, "that if he believed that any of his people worshipped the true cross, he would trample it under his feet." His answer was, that they could not say that here. In support of his opinion, I will tell you what I saw in the Pope's chapel. The service in the Breviary is headed, "Adoration of the Cross." A veiled cross is given to the officiating Priest. Uncovering one arm, and holding it up, he sings, "Ecce lignum crucis,”"Behold the wood of the cross." The tenor singers reply, "In quo salus," "In which there is safety." And the chorus, in a voice of thunder, strikes in, "Venite, adoremus,"-" Come let us worship." The Pope, Cardinals, and people prostrate themselves. He then uncovered the other arm, and, in a louder voice than before, said, "Ecce lignum crucis," the choir responding, " Venite, adoremus." The whole veil is then taken off, and the same words repeated in still a louder voice. It is then laid on a cushion. Then the Pope, divested of his robes, his shoes taken off his feet, advances to it, on his way kneeling and praying three times, prostrates himself upon it, and kisses it. An attendant then came to each Cardinal, and removed his shoes; and they and the Bishops and Clergy, even to the Pope's domestic servants, advanced, knelt, and kissed it. If this is not adoration, I do not know what it is.

I have it on the best authority, that, when Dr. Pusey was asked whom he considered to constitute the Church of England, he answered, "The Tractarian Clergy and the lately-ordained Vatican Bishops." People here consider this answer rather strong for a man holding a living in the English Establishment.

When standing on the steps of St. Peter's, I heard a Roman Catholic Priest say, "There is no difference between us and the English Tractarians but one; namely, that they do not acknowledge the Pope as their head. But that," he added, "is not much; for the Pope is a good man, easily accessible by all." Any one can get an introduction by applying to his Consul for a note to Mr. Talbot, who has the charge of procuring this favour for foreigners.

AUTHORSHIP OF THE SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS.

In the sixth century of the Christian era, Cosmas, a Greek merchant, called attention to the thousands of inscriptions on the rocks throughout the peninsula of Mount Sinai. These were at once assigned by Jews to their pilgrim-ancestors, and to the period which followed the exodus. Mr. Gray copied many of them in 1820; and, ten years later, one hundred and seventy-seven appeared in the "Transactions of the Royal Society of

We believe it was to this doll that Viscount Feilding, the late pervert, presented a silver cradle, in order that thereby he might have an heir to his noble house.

Literature." An eminent orientalist of Leipsic, Professor Beer, subsequently attempted the work of interpretation. The Professor's theory is, that the inscriptions are of Christian origin, and were executed in the fourth century by the Nabathæans. The ground of such conclusions seems altogether unsatisfactory; and the hypothesis is combated by the Rev. Charles Forster, B.D., in his recent work, "The One Primeval Language traced experimentally through ancient Inscriptions in Alphabetic Characters of lost Powers from the four Continents." A passage or two, bearing on so interesting a question, will be acceptable to our readers.

PROFESSOR BEER frankly admits that, beyond his more than dubious sign of the cross, [a character so denominated by him, but one found also in the Egyptian sculptures,-the Crux Ansata,] he has not an iota of evidence of any kind to countenance his conjecture. Again, when he refers the origin of such inscriptions to these casual wanderers in the wilderness, to pilgrims (by his own confession) unknown to history or tradition, and invisible to every eye save his own; and represents their execution as the amusement of his ideal travellers, in the heat of the day, during their halts under the shady resting-stations; he confesses, on the one hand, that the inscriptions are numbered by thousands, and forgets, on the other hand, that the cliffs are described as clothed with them to heights attainable only by the aid of platforms or ladders from below, or of ropes and baskets from above,―heights which no passing voyagers, necessarily unprovided with such appliances, could by any possibility reach.

The date assigned to the inscriptions, the fourth century, is so irreconcilable with the laws of reason and analogy, that our only difficulty in dealing with it lies in the difficulty always experienced in bringing argument to bear against assumption in the face of facts. Cosmas has described the inscriptions as wearing, early in the sixth century, all the hoar marks of dilapidation, consequent ordinarily upon the lapse of ages, and the waste of slow natural decay. The inscription-rocks, fallen fractured from the cliffs, were by him seen lying scattered over the valleys, precisely as they are to be seen lying scattered in the same valleys at the present day. To an ordinary observer, surely, this description would imply that the signs of nature's ruin and decay which Cosmas beheld had as long preceded his time, as those which travellers to Mount Sinai now witness have confessedly succeeded it; the phenomena being alike the sure, though slow, work of the winter torrents, undermining the cliffs above. We are certain that the silent progress of this work of ruin has occupied nearly fourteen centuries since the days of Cosmas: why, then, may not the similar progress of decay which he beheld have occupied twenty centuries before? Not such, however, is the reasoning of Beer. While the fourteen centuries occupied in producing the one set of phenomena is a point inevitably conceded, he would allow, for the production of the other, the space only of one hundred and fifty years.

Happily, however, for the truth, among the copies of Sinaitic inscriptions already procured, there are forthcoming some legible documents of unquestionable dates..........Some few Greek, and one Latin inscription, from the Wady Mokatteb itself, [that is, from the Written Valley,] are in our hands. The dates of these are self-evidently posterior, it may safely be added long posterior, to that of the unknown inscriptions, among the countless multitudes of which these more recent superadditions are well nigh lost.

Foremost among the phenomena is that so often stated by travellers, and so irrationally under-estimated, both by visiters of these sacred localities, and by critics at home,-the numbers, extent, and positions of the inscriptions: their numbers (in the Wady Mokatteb alone) being computed by thousands; their extent by miles; and their positions above the valleys being as often measurable by fathoms as by feet. No difficulties of situation, no ruggedness of material, no remoteness of locality, has been security against the gravers of the one phalanx of mysterious scribes. The granite rocks of the almost inaccessible Mount Serbal, from its base to its summit, repeat the characters and inscriptions of the sandstones of the Mokatteb. The wild recesses of the Wady Arabah renew the phenomena in an opposite direction, and disclose them carried on to the extremity of the eastern head of the Red Sea; while countless multitudes more may possibly lie still undiscovered, in the numerous valleys branching out from the roots of Sinai, and as yet, it would appear, unexplored. These circumstances, taken together, we might reasonably have thought, would have barred at the threshold any theory grounding itself upon the assumption of the inscriptions being the work, or pastime, of chance pilgrims or travellers; and that, within a given period of from thirty to forty years; and by hands from the Arabian side, while the great mass of the inscriptions are found on the Egyptian side of the peninsula.

While the whole facts of the case, as thus far exhibited, demonstrate the utter untenableness of Professor Beer's hypothesis as to the origin and authorship of the Sinaitic inscriptions, there remains in reserve one consideration more: a consideration alone sufficing to prove, to the satisfaction of every capable and unbiassed understanding, that there was but one period, and one people, in the history of the world, to which, and to whom, those mysterious monuments can be rationally ascribed. The consideration in question is this: the physical character of the peninsula of Sinai.

This "waste and howling wilderness," as it is expressively designated in the Old Testament, is described, by all who have visited it in modern times, as (in most parts) utterly destitute of sustenance for man. For flocks and herds, indeed, in the rainy seasons, its valleys, usually parched and withered, (an oäsis here and there like Wady Feiran excepted,) yield a sudden, abundant, and short-lived vegetation. But, with the exception of a few scattered date-groves, of food for the use of man its produce is as nothing. Even the wandering Bedouin, who seeks pasture for his camels or his sheep during the rains amidst these wilds, must carry with him, we learn, his own simple and scanty meals. But what Sinai is in our days, it has been through all preceding ages. From the deluge, if not from the beginning, it has been, is, and must remain to the end of time, the same "waste and howling wilderness." However periodically traversed, it never could have been permanently occupied by mankind. This decisive consideration brings us back once more to the phenomenon of its multitudinous and mysterious inscriptions. To execute these monuments, it has been already seen, ladders and platforms, or ropes and baskets, the appliances of a fixed and settled population, were indispensable. But no people ever could have been fixed and settled there, unless provided with daily supplies of food and water in some extraordinary way. Now the only people in the history of the world answering to this description, was God's people Israel, after their exode out of Egypt: a fact which tells, with a