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prevailed among the people, it was useless to contend against Rome. What business and prosperity must have been witnessed in these towns and villages of Gennesaret! Whoever stands by the baths of Tiberias, and views the town and lake, has in the background the mountain of Safed, and on the distant horizon, snowcapped Hermon bounds the prospect before him, and from Tiberias northwestward a smiling landscape, planted like a garden, and dotted with numerous houses, like the shores of the Lake of Zurich from Zurich to Rappers-wyl.

If

The ruined site of Tell Hûm lies on the north shore of the lake, an hour's journey from the spot where the Jordan empties itself into it (after flowing lazily between banks, on one side steep, and on the other forming a delta-like fruitful plain), throwing up as it enters it a mass of white foam,-and stretches itself for a mile or two along the strand: its breadth on the land-side is about half of this distance. If the important town, whose houses were once mirrored here in a long line in the lake, was not Capernaum, or, according to stricter orthography, Capharnaum, what other town can it have been? Robinson and others, who place Capernaum farther south, not far from Megdel, the ancient Magdala, and near Ain-et-Tin (the Fountain of Figs), must give an answer to this query. Josephus, in a battle which he fought with the Romans at Bethsaida Julias, fell with his horse to the ground, and was carried, severely wounded, to a place called Kepharnome, this seems to fix the site of Capernaum, where Josephus hoped to find a refuge and a physician, as the nearest town to Bethsaida Julias, which lay to the east of the influx of the Jordan. And if Jesus, when informed of the execution of John the Baptist, went over in a boat to Bethsaida with His disciples, and the people followed Him thither by hurrying along the shore in crowds, arriving before He did,this seems to make it clear (if we regard Capernaum, the chief station of His ministry, as the only town from whence Jesus could have departed, and where the people had collected)

that it lay where the ruins of Tell Hûm now stand. It was to Capernaum, too, that the disciples were returning, after witnessing the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, when Jesus had gone away so as to be alone for a time; but a storm which arose on the lake, and burst upon the disciples about the middle of their passage, threatened them with drowning; Jesus, however, walking upon the water, came to their aid, and, contrary to their expectations, they found themselves at the end of their voyage: that is to say, at the haven, or landing-place at Capernaum. But the next morning, the people saw that the one boat which had brought Jesus across was gone, and they knew that the disciples had left long ago, but that Jesus had not accompanied them. Thinking that Jesus had gone by land, they took some boats from Tiberias, which were moored at Bethsaida, and the place for which they steered was again Capernaum, where they sought and found Jesus. Thus we become impressed with the conviction that Capernaum was opposite Bethsaida Julias, and that the scene of most of the works of Jesus was the land round about the northern shores of the lake, as it was prophesied in the book of Isaiah: "The dimness shall not be as in the days of her vexation, when at the first He lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Napthali, and afterwards did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people that walked in darkness saw great light; and on them that sat in the shadow of death light is sprung up."

"Besides the mild air," "says Josephus in his description of the country of Gennesaret, "this also conduces to its fertility: namely, that the soil is irrigated by an exceedingly good spring, which the country people call Kapharnaum; many consider it as connected with the river Nile, because fish swim out of it into the lake, which are very much like the Coracinus (so called from its raven blackness) of Alexandria." It is Gennesaret, strictly so called, of which Josephus here speaks, the lovely strip of land, which, near Khan Mînyeh on the

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north, and Megdel on the south, is bounded by hills which slope down towards the sea. If this spring of Kapharnaum was one that acquired its name from that of the adjoining town, this town must have beer in the neighbourhood of Khan Minyon, where Robinson places it, and Tell Hûm, which lies an hour's journey farther northward, is not to be considered as ancient Capernaum. But the account of Josephus is not fully reliable, because it has not a look of probability about it. The name Kapharnaum (Kapernaum) as we have already remarked, means "Nahum's Village." Now it was certainly customary to name places after springs in the neighbourhood,-as for example, the lovely gardens of Engedi, which Solomon laid out, the name of which signifies, "Goat's well," and Warmbrunn, in Silesia, so named from its sulphur-springs. But that a spring should have the word "town" (Kefar) attached to its name, is unheard-of; the account of Josephus sounds as contrary to reason as if I said, "Between Soden and Hochheim in the plain of Taunus is a sulphur-spring called the town of Weilbach."

But

if we correct the account by supposing the name of the well to have been not Kapharnaum, but 'Ain Kapharnaum (Spring of Nahum's town); and taking it for granted that one of the springs near Khan Minyeh is meant, even if it were Tabigha (Tabika) the farthest from Capernaum, which was full of water and abounded with fish, and shows traces of a reservoir and channels which once carried its water in various directions about the land, this does not make it impossible that it may have derived its name from the Capernaum that lay a few miles to the north of it. For Capernaum possessed no spring water of its own. But if water could be procured (by land or by crossing the lake) from this well, it is quite possible that it was regarded as belonging to this town, which was the next in importance to Tiberias, and might have been named from it. It is true that the water of the lake itself is drinkable: the qualities which Josephus attributes to it proves this: it is sparkling clear, soft, and cool. The poorer classes of Capernaum, perhaps, would not care to go to

the Fountain of Figs or to any other a mile or two off, to fetch water to drink. But the richer folks, would, doubtless, find the spring water more palatable, from its greater purity; for what squeamish citizen would care to drink the water of the river or lake that washed the shores of the town, in which people not only bathed and washed, but into whose waves all the refuse of the town must have been thrown?

We cannot, however, deny, that a tradition has been handed down to us which places Capernaum to the north-east of the land of Gennesaret strictly so called, where now stands a place called El Ghuweir, near the modern Khan Mînyeh. Khan, in the Oriental dialect, means an inhabited one-storied building, erected for the accommodation of travellers, with shelter and a night's lodging: and answers to the Latin diversorium; but it is not an inn, but rather a free shelter or lodging house. Thus the monk Quarestinus, in his entertaining work on the Holy Land (which appeared in 1639 in two volumes), says, in vol. ii., sect. 868, "At the present time all that is to be seen where Capernaum stood, consists of some old ruins and a wretched diversorium, called in the Arabian tongue, Menich," this evidently meaning Khan Mînyeh, between which and the lake-shore the so called "Fountain of Figs" has its source beneath a great fig-tree, and produces a strip of luxuriant verdure all along the rushy shore. Robinson and his companions encamped here on the 19th of May, 1852, in a beautiful cloverfield. The ruins of a town, not apparently an unimportant place, though now consisting of shapeless heaps, lay southward from the Khan on an insignificant eminence, but they were nearly grown over by a field of nearly ripe wheat. Perhaps the town, so renowned in old Jewish writings concerning Palestine under the name of Kefar Tanchumin, or more properly, Kefar Techumin, lay here. Its name resembles that of Capernaum but has a very different meaning; for it signifies, the town on the boundary;" and this name well suits its situation at the northern extremity of the Gennesaret valley. The place where Capernaum

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or Kefar Nahum (which cannot be confounded with this Kefar Techumin) stood, is indicated by the large and dissimilar ruins of Tell Hûm.

THE LAST BAPTISMS OF JEWISH
PENITENTS,

IN THE EPISCOPAL JEWS' CHAPEL,
PALESTINE-PLACE, IN 1872.

Ir affords us much grateful joy to be permitted to record, in our first number of a new series, the admission of three members of our nation, the House of Jacob, into the Church of Christ by the sacred ordinance of baptism. This solemn admission took place at the Episcopal Jews' Chapel, Palestine Place, on Sunday, the 22nd ult., at the ordinary afternoon Hebrew service. We were desirous to be present at the administration of the sacred rite, especially as we had heard that one of the intended recipients of the hallowed sacrament was an old man, who had reached the good old age of three score and seventeen years. We called, therefore, that afternoon on our dear brother, the Rev. H. A. Stern, Principal of the Missions to the Jews in England, in order to accompany him to the Church. We congratulated ourselves on this preliminary step, for we found at the Mission House the three catechumens. Mr. Stern read and expounded to them the last few verses of the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, which record the work of God in the hearts and souls of three thousand of our brethren "that gladly received His word, and were baptized." The experienced missionary solemnly exhorted the candidates for the holy ordinance to imitate the "three thousand, and continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship," and to be constant in prayer. At the conclusion of the pithy address, we all knelt down, and Mr. Stern offered up an earnest supplication at the throne of grace in behalf of the Hebrew penitents who were about to confess publicly that they were no more like sheep going astray, but were now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls. We understand a reunion of the same description takes place at the Mission House previous to every baptism in the Episcopal Jews' Chapel.

The prayers were read in Hebrew by Mr. Stern. After the second lesson, he gave out in Hebrew a translation of the spirited hymn :

There it was that the French bishop Arculf saw ancient Capernaum still in existence in the seventh century. (To be continued.)

"Holy Spirit, heav'nly Witness?

Whose Almighty influence darts Life to souls once dead, and fitness For the heav'nly state imparts ! Bear Thy witness

To Thy work in all our hearts."

Whilst the four verses were being sung in the sacred tongue by the congregation-led by the Hebrew Christian children in the galleries-the candidates for the solemn and public confession of their faith, along with their friends and witnesses, clustered round the baptismal font. It was a solemn spectacle. Oh, for the graphic pen of a John Ruskin,or the descriptive pencil of a Holman Hunt to do justice to the group which composed the three candidates ready to make their confession in Christ the Redeemer of Israel, and to receive the sacrament of baptism in His most holy name. The picture would have made a worthy counterpart to the celebrated one known as Judæa capta, and might have been fitly designated Judæa liberata. At the left of Mr. Stern knelt the venerable candidate, to whom we have already alluded; by the old man's left side knelt a young girl, about seventeen years of age; and at her left again knelt a young man of about twenty-seven years of age. The concourse of the witnesses standing round the catechumens and the stalwart figure of the officiating minister, might have produced a representation of no ordinary attraction.

A few particulars about the candidates might not prove uninteresting to our readers. The old man we spoke of followed at long last the example of his children, all English born, who had long since returned to the fold of Christ, and lead consistent Christian lives, in the various important spheres which their talents and industry, by God's blessing, secured for them. We have every reason to believe that the Christian consistency of the old man's pious sons and daughters proved in strumental to his determination to go himself, even at the eleventh hour, and work in his Master's vineyard. We confess to a peculiar thrill of gratitude, which sent up some hot

tears to our eyes, when the words, "Jacob Moses, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," were pronounced by Mr. Stern. The young girl, also English born, was educated in the Jewish Free School, at Lower Norwood, where she had been eight years. From the few words of conversation which we had with her, we were very favourably impressed with her simple and sincere faith, as well as with her unaffected modesty. The young man is a native of St. Petersburg,-a good Hebrew scholar; he is evidently not long for this world. He suffers from a fatal affection of the lungs; and his physician told him that his life was not worth many months' purchase. consequence of his helplessness, Mr. Stern felt doubtful whether he ought to baptize the young man, as, humanly speaking, the sick man could not earn a subsistence. The importunities, however, on the part of the poor penitent, his pleadings that he might be called hence at any moment, and was therefore desirous of partaking of the divinely prescribed sacrament ere he quitted this world, prevailed with the Principal of Jewish Missions in England, and he granted the invalid's fervent request. Altogether, the group was composed of most instructive and suggestive elements.

In

After the baptismal service, Mr. Stern returned to the desk and finished the evening prayers. Whilst another Hebrew hymn was being sung by the congregation and the school children, the Rev. Dr. Margoliouth-who unexpectedly happened to come to the service-made his way to the pulpit. After the conclusion of the hymn, he offered up a short prayer in Hebrew ; he then gave out his text, first in the original Chaldee, and then in English; Dan. iii. 23 (last part) :-" There is no other God that can deliver after this sort." The preacher, after explaining to his Jewish hearers the text in relation to its context, pointed out its applicability to them individually and collectively. They were strangers in a strange land, in the midst of enemies amongst Jews and Gentiles. But we, if but consistent children of God, have a Deliverer which can deliver after a sort which no other god can. Our God may not always see fit to prevent our being cast into a burning fiery furnace; but He will not fail to meet us there, and quench the fire which would otherwise consume us. The Son of God was

found with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the seven times heated furnace, and so He would be with us, if we have the same faith which distinguished those captives in Babylon. Who would not rather be in a burning fiery furnace with Jesus, the Son of God, for his companion, than in the most gorgeous palaces in the world with a Nebuchadnezzar for his associate!

In conclusion, the preacher addressed himself to the newly baptized members of the congregation before him. He told them he did not come to Church with the intention to preach to them, but to be present at their solemn confession of faith; however, his dear friend, Mr. Stern, having expressed a wish that he should preach, and as Mr. Stern was going to take his own place in his pulpit, he acquiesced in the wish. Their number, three, suggested the episode in the third chapter of Daniel; hence his text. He dwelt on the probable thoughts which stirred the respective souls of the recipients of the sacrament that afternoon. The venerable brother might have felt a pang of remorse, on beholding his young sister in THE FAITH kneeling by his side, that he had not returned to the God of our fathers earlier in life; and thus glorified his God for many a year past. Let him take courage, and thank God that He had mercifully called him at last. The young sister, on the other hand, may have thought with soul-stirring gratitude of the aged brother by her side as affording strength to her own assurance that the truth as it is in Jesus is worthy of the acceptance of all. The brother, who has reached the age of manhood, may have gathered material for solemn thought from his older and younger companions. He wished them all to cling to the glorious declaration of the text:-"There is no other God that can deliver after this sort." These words were as much dictated by the Holy Spirit as those which the wicked Jewish high priest Caiaphas enunciated respecting the necessary death of our Saviour to save the world; or the superscription which Pilate was prompted to put over the cross. With other such admonitions, he exhorted them that, with purpose of heart, they would cleave unto the Lord. The preacher followed up his sermon by a short prayer, and the Aaronic benediction, in Hebrew. Thus closed one of the most solemn services which we have attended for a long time.

INTERCESSORY HYMN FOR MISSIONS TO THE JEWS.

(For Dec. 20, 1872.)

[The following hymn, from the pen of the worthy Vicar of St. Paul's, Haggerstone, will find deserved favour with our readers.]

BY REV. W. STONE, M.A.

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces." (Ps. cxxii. 6, 7.)

PRAY we for Jerusalem,

That ancient city bless'd!
The joy of generations,

The home of future rest!
We long for her uplifting

Above the common earth,
Beyond the days of sifting,
And pain of second birth.

Thou Comfort of the weary,

Thou Strength of weak and worn! Thou Lord of life and freedom, O pity her forlorn ! Bind up the faint and broken, Send Gilead's balm to heal ! For Thou the word hast spoken, And none in vain appeal.

Now multiply the preachers,

That publish with success,
With tongues of fire," the message
Of peace and righteousness!
That fruits, in tenfold measure,
May ripen with increase,
While" labourers" reap the treasure,
And offerings never cease.

O Father, rend asunder

The veil that hides the view
Of Him, Who spake for Israel
"They know not what they do!"
And while they look, repenting,
Upon the "pierced" side,
Lord, look on them, relenting,
And save, since Jesus died!

Pray we for Jerusalem,

And all who seek her weal;
That soon may come the blessing,
Her bitter wounds to heal;
That all her "Tribes" may gather
Around her Zion-hill,
And nations flow together
Her shining courts to fill.
Praise God, our gracious Father,
Give praises to the Son,
Extol we God the Spirit,
Co-equal Three in One.

We render praise and glory
For all the bliss above,

And humbly bow before Thee,
Eternal God of love!

Amen.

THE NEWLY ORDAINED HEBREW CHRISTIAN DEACON.

WE observe that, at the head of the list of Deacons, ordained at St. Paul's Cathedral by the Lord Bishop of London, on Sunday morning, the 22nd ult., stands the name of August Carl Adler. It is the name of a worthy and talented Hebrew Christian brother. He has our heartiest prayer, that our Heavenly Father may bestow His choicest blessings upon him and his ministry, wherever his sphere of labour in the great Master's harvest may be fixed.

Notes.

IN MEMORIAM.

VISCOUNTESS BEACONSFIELD. WE desire to put on record our profound sympathy with our bereaved Hebrew Christian Brother, the Right Honourable Benjamin Disraeli, in his great bereavement. It pleased God, in His inscrutable dispensation of Providence, to take from our eminent brother her whom his soul loved. But we pray and trust that the Lord who first gave, and then took from him that inestimable treasure, will enable the bereaved husband to experience the bliss of the conviction that there is a throne where mercy rejoiceth over judgment, where true consolation is offered, where joy and peace in believing is to be found. May our sorrowing brother give heed to the whisperings of our Father in Heaven; "My son, what I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Let JESUS be your all in all ! "

THE REV. ADOLPH SAPHIR, B.A. It is with sincere gratitude to the God of Israel that we record that it pleased Him to restore health and strength to our gifted brother, whose name heads this paragraph, to resume his minis terial functions, as a HEBREW CHRISTIAN WITNESS to the verities of the Gospel of the Grace of God. Our dear brother was inducted into his new sphere of future pastoral charge-of the Trinity Presbyterian Church, in Kensington Park Road-on the 11th ult. He has our heartfelt prayer that the God of our Fathers, the Lord Jesus Christ, may be with His devoted

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