How little thought I then of such a day!

The whilst I watched my merry infant child,

And noted how her little ways and games,

Her pretty prattle, and her ringing laugh,

Won even on the rough and bearded

men,

Who seemed to know no tenderness of heart;

But yet some chord, some memory she touched,

Some better nature in them she aroused, Till he that was the wildest, roughest, learnt

To smoothe his brow and speak in softer tones

In all his angriest moods, when she came by:

And I have heard such men in war grown old

Who knew no mercy, swear that they could die

Ere harm should touch the babe they loved so well.

And once again as hitherward I came Who went outcast, disgraced, but came as chief,

A chosen chief, to rule my people here, I did not, could not dream of such a day.

My Miriam was not with me, and for that

My triumph was with sorrow dashed,

but yet

I rather thought how I was now returned

In honour, whence in shame and scorned

I had departed; and I also thought Upon my daughter, and I pictured her Sought by the chief and honourable youths,

All eager who should be accounted fit To be the noble captain Jephthah's son. And then I saw her caring for my

wants

THE synagogue organ of the 21st ult. devotes considerably more than two columns to a report of a lecture by "the Rev. Professor Marks." of the "reformed" synagogue, on the "Talmud." The lecture was delivered on Monday evening, the 17th ult., in a schoolroom attached to a Socinian chapel. The staple of the lecture was sufficiently characteristic of the lecturer's resources not to entitle it to any particular notice on our part. It was made up of trite truisms, flimsy arguments, flippant remarks, random assertions, unmeaning allusions, and overweening conceit. We are, we confess, rather curious to know how the heads of the "orthodox" synagogues in this country will take this bit of patronage, bestowed on the part of their organ, on the excommunicated seceder. There is a grand parade of learning, and a betrayal of unmistakable fierce fanaticism in several parts of the maudlin discourse, which prove more amusing than instructive. The strictures on the quotations from the Old

Testament by the Evangelists, show the critic's ignorance both of the letter and spirit of the New Testament.

We should certainly have withholden our much otherwise claimed space from any notice of the lecture, by the "reformed" Jewish preacher, in the Socinian schoolroom, were it not that we felt that we ought to take the opportunity, and tell our readers of the great effect which the late Dr. M'Caul's work on the Talmud produced upon modern Judaism in this and other lands. It was that great Christian scholar's "Old Paths" which has gradually removed the scales from half of Judendom, to a correct appreciation of the real character of that voluminous medley called "The Talmud." For nearly forty years has Dr. M-Caul, by his work alluded to, taught the Jews all over the world-for the work has been remarkably well done into Hebrew, as well as into every European language-the great and vital difference between the WORD OF GOD and the traditions of men. Mr. Marks, in his lecture at the Socinian schoolroom, dared not ignore the "Old Paths," though he took great care to drop it as soon as he touched it.

Any of our readers who are interested in the enlightenment of our brethren, we advise to help forward the circulation of the "Old Paths," by the late Dr. M'Caul. It not only points out the falsehoods of rabbinism, but sets forth most clearly the truths of Christianity. The older we become, the more frequent intercourse we have with our Jewish brethren, the more experience we gain in the work of teaching and preaching generally, the more convinced do we become that negative teaching only-that is, pointing out error simply-is a snare and a delusion. It may produce strong sceptics in the Talmud, but no better believers in the TORAH, i.e., the law of God; it may produce a Marks, but not a Neander. It is for this reason, and for this consideration, that we set our face against every attempt to make certain Talmudical compilations, some of which consist of filthy and obscene extracts, to be put in circulation amongst the Jews, in lieu of wholesome, straightforward, transparent Christian publications, written by avowed Christians, for an avowed Christian purpose, as Dr. M'Caul has written his "Old Paths."

Correspondence.

ON THE ANGELS OF JUDE AND
PETER.

To the Editor of the Hebrew Christian
Witness.

SIR, I am anxious to know what was the thought of the Hebrew mind which led Josephus, in describing the state of the antediluvian world (lib. 1, c. 3, § 1), to use the expression, "For many angels of God, γυναιξὶ συμμιYÉVTES," &c.? No doubt this expression has given rise to those ideas which, in the present age, are best known by

Moore's Loves of the Angels; but surely this was not Josephus's interpretation of "Benai ha-Eloheem."

However this question may be solved, it cannot materially affect our right, as diligent students of Holy Writ, to inquire, What are "the angels" of Jude 6, and of 2 Peter ii. 4.

This is not a mere logomachy, neither is it a desire to gratify vain curiosity, because on the true exegesis depends our having a definite idea of man's spiritual condition in reference to the relation of evil spirits to the spirit of On man's spirit does the Spirit of God operate, energising him both

man.

to will and to do;" while, if man's spirit resists the Holy Spirit, he does ipso facto yield himself to the energising power of Satan and his angels: such evil spirits using men as "ministers of Satan, transformed as ministers of righteousness" But the abode of these "principalities, and powers, and spirits of wickedness" is stated very distinctly (Ephes. vi. 12) to be in the heavenlies; and again (Ephes. ii. 2) Satan is called the "Prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that now energises in the children of disobedience."

But how is all this to consist with

the popular idea that "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation," &c., were Satan, with all his host of rebel angels? Is not Milton our interpreter of this passage, or rather has not Milton recorded a popular belief of past ages in his magnificent description?

"What time his pride

Had cast him out from heaven with all his host

Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring
To set himself in glory above his peers,
Him the almighty power,
Hurled headlong, flaming, from the ethe-
real sky,

With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition: there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy the omnipotent to arms."

The learned Joseph Mede (died 1638), appreciating this difficulty, attempts to overcome it in a very ingenious, but, I must add, in a very unsatisfactory, manner. At page 23 of his works (ed. 1675), he " supposes a trajection of the words." He states that rapTapwσaç is an apax legomenon, and he explains it thus: "Having adjudged them to hellish torments, He delivered them to be kept or reserved (in the aery regions, as in a prison) for chains of darkness at the day of judgment."

This is indeed trajection with a vengeance, only to be paralleled by the famous trajection of Irenæus in 2 Cor. iv. 4: "In whom God (o OɛOS TÕV αἰῶνος τούτου) hath blinded the minds of the unbelievers of this world." Lib. iii. chap. 7, p. 210 (ed. Grabe, 1702).

There can be no doubt that the only sound rendering of the passage is "having tartarised (that is, made them the objects of the action of the verb) in chains of darkness, he delivered (them) to be kept unto the period of judgment.” The ταρταρώσας is a past

action, not an adjudication to a future action; the delivery unto judgment is of angels already in chains of darkness, therefore it is not possible exegetically to suppose that those who are in chains of darkness are freely ranging the air, and working in the children of disobedience. Their position is exactly opposite to that of the wicked spirits, the angels of Satan.

Then, again, the Jude passage implies that the keeping not their first estate, and leaving their own habitation was the sin on account of which they were punished, "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." This will be seen very clearly by comparing the two accounts, clause by clause:

2 PETER ii. BUT there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the

eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

JUDE.

4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,

he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

"It will be seen that, in each account, the apostle is speaking of ungodly men, defiling the flesh. But what relation is there between such men and the angels of Satan? while, if we take them as the same as the sons of God of Gen. vi. 2, then all is clear. They are the Sethite generation, appointed as the messengers (άyyeλoı) of God's original covenant of sacrifice: they left their appointed apyny, and joined themselves to the daughters of Cain; as, in ages after, the Israelites joined themselves to Baal-peor and the daughters of Moab. (Num. xxv. 1.)

This was their sin, leading, in its results, to the destruction of the old world. This is mentioned only in Peter. Then each apostle introduces Sodom and Gomorrha as an ensample

to those that after should live ungodly," but not necessarily as an ensample of identical sin, but as of the results of defilement and uncleanness. And Jude specially identifies the genus, if not the species of the common sin, by the words, "in like manner to those." It is unfortunate that the two words in italics have been left out of the A.V., but ròv polov τούτοις τρόπον can have no other reference than to the angels, the gender of the Tourous making it impossible to refer it to the cities, and to refer it to the men of Sodom is surely travelling out of our way, when we have the ȧyyéλous as an obvious and direct antecedent, only to be set aside on account of a preconceived opinion that the angels of ver. 6 must be what is commonly understood by angelic or heavenly beings.

The simple fact, however, is that modern thought has been so habituated to refer the word angels to spirits, either celestial or hellish, that we seem almost unable to refer the word back to its original meaning* as

"that

It may be useful to remark that

which announces or declares the will of a superior," applied by Homer (xxiv. 292-296),

Αἴτει δ ̓ οἰωνὸν ταχὺν ἄγγελον, to the birds of augury which were to announce the will of Jupiter. Yet how well this confirms the idea that these expressions of Peter and Jude fitly designate the sons of God, the posterity of Seth, whom God appointed to announce in continuity, by sacrifice, the way to the tree of life.

66

SAMUEL HANSON.

THE PRE-ADAMITE EARTH. SIR, Is it not a rather striking coincidence, when, from different points of view, the same conclusions are gathered, and tending to cause some belief that in those conclusions may be found truth? I am led to make these remarks from reading, in the thoughtful essays of Lord Ormathwaite on Astronomy and Geology Compared," a passage which seems to bear very much, as to the primary fact supposed, upon the opinions formed by Faber from deep study of the divine prophecies. Faber suggests that this very planet, now tenanted by man, was previously the delegated kingdom of the mighty fallen angel, Satan, from which he and his rebellious host were ejected, "and that their fair domain was resolved into a dark and confused chaos," out of which a renewed world was organised. Lord Ormathwaite, writing upon our grand solar system in a philosophical "The researches of astrostrain, says, nomers have never found, in any part of this glorious scheme, the principle of decay; those who entertain a firm belief in the existence of the Great First Cause, acknowledge indeed, with reverence and awe, that He who created this great work of His omnipotence could, if He so pleased, destroy

the word, occurring 208 times in the Old Testament, is rendered "angel" 105 times, and "messenger or ambassador" 103 times. In 1 Cor. xi. 10, that puzzling passage probably means by "Because of the anthe expression, gels," God's ministers, as is assuredly the case in Rev. i. 20, where the angels of the Churches, as successively referred to in chaps. ii. and iii., are human ministers of the Church of God. How analogous is this last symbolic reference to the persons mentioned in Gen, vi. 2.

it; but there is no indication whatever to be found of such a purpose; as far as human knowledge and foresight extend, our solar system bears the evidence of being eternal.

Some theologists and divines may be startled at this view, which they may consider at variance with the prophecies of Scripture, which so frequently refer to the end of the world; but I think that no such discrepancy will, on consideration, be found to exist. Both the Old and New Testament relate exclusively to the destinies of man. Now, whenever the Almighty should, in His wisdom, determine to end the mortal existence of man, such an exercise of His power would not be difficult to conceive. Life is so frail a possession, that it would seem as if the exercise of the Divine power were far more needed to preserve than to extinguish it; it would but need the temporary abstraction of the oxygen from the atmosphere, or the escape of some mephytic vapour from the bowels of the earth, to destroy, in an incredibly short space of time, all life, whether human, animal, or vegetable; leaving the earth a tabula rasa, to be reoccupied by new forms, according to the will of the Creator.

"We may also remark that geology shows us that various races of animals existed at remote periods upon the earth, and have become extinct from various causes. It is quite possible to conceive that analogous causes might extirpate man; but all these changes need not affect the course of the planets, or the position of the earth as a member of the solar system. Uninfluenced by these changes, the great mass of our globe might continue to fill its accustomed place in the system of which it is a member." May we not equally from analogy acknowledge a previous world in this our planet, as look for future changes in it? and are there not passages in the holy Scriptures which give credence to these suggestions, such as in Psalm cii. : "Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens: . they all shall

wax old as a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou change them," &c.; and in Psalm ciii.: "And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth," &c., and other like passages? May it not be that the science of geology, now so imperfectly understood, and often, in the hand of infidel and materialistic philosophy, brought forward in denial

of a Divine revelation, will prove eventually-not only to bear testimony to the truth of God's written word by His works, but-throw light on deep things revealed, though not as yet understood, in His holy word? H. B.

THE TEN TRIBES.

DEAR SIR,-I do not know that any harm is likely to arise if Englishmen, or people belonging to any other nationality, assume that they are the "ISRAELITES to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." It is true that some, at least, will question the intelligence of those who may apply, or misapply Scripture to themselves, which can, with an equal appearance of suitability, be applied to almost any other people. To argue on the subject is to argue in a circle you of necessity return to the same point from whence you started. It would therefore be useless on my part to comment on the observations which your correspondent "Jezreel makes on my short article. To one particular alone I would draw attention. I spoke of the statement made in Deut. xxviii. 37, as 66 a cross" which every member of the twelve tribes must of necessity take up. Your correspondent says it is "a curse," and not "a cross." But that which is a curse to the ungodly, is only a cross to the people of God. Let us, however, employ the term which Jezreel selects. The Lord saith, "As ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing." (Zech. viii. 13.) Then, as the English nation constitute the ten tribes, they are under "a curse," and the name of Englishman is a name of opprobrium through. out the whole world. Would your correspondent and those who agree with him subscribe to this view of the question? No! from such an alternative these good people shrink. The curse is for the two tribes to which we belong, the blessings are for the ten tribes of which they claim to be the representatives.

I was brought up as a Christian. As a boy, I knew not that I was of Jewish