Jay County, Indiana - The whole text, 1881 (part 1 of 11)

The United Sta Tes

A History of the County; Biographical Sketches; Lithographic Views of Buildings; Portraits of Prominent Men; General Statistics; Miscellaneous Matters. &c.

General Illustrations

TT is an old adage on extremes, " Too far east is west." Observa- I tion shows how an enemy, often in the heat of his zeal may overdo his work. This is seen in the recent violent attacks on Christian ty and especially on the Bible as a divinely inspired and the endeavor to throw doubt or discredit on its historic

StTh'Tseistattacking Christianity in its stronghold, not only in the sense of a vital part, but at a point where it is able to offer a powerful resistance. Infidelity - bitter, bold, sel -confident - sends out its boasting Goliaths, trusting in the invulnerability of its armor, the strength of its prowess, the superior character of its veapTns,'and the blighting influence of its taunts ""conscious that it exposes its vita! part to the best weapons of its unboast-

"'i'eriiaps the favorite argument of scepticism is that in the race of learning and knowledge in this enlightened age, Christianity has been left behind - the "last year's almanac" argument. It was Ion" an-o established that Christianity could not be overthrown oy Teaming nor logic. It is sometimes betrayed, as was its author', in the house of its friends. Its only weakness is in the inconsistencies of its professors, and it offers the only remedy for these But it must be confessed that its advocates often otter tor it a defense, because of their want of knowledge, quite too feeble for the merits of such a cause. The "Author and Finisher of our faith" has given a strong foundation on which to erect the superstructure of the Christian system; but if men build upon it with " wood, hay, stubble," they must expect their work to be tried with fire. 'The earthly, material, type of the Church, ancient Jerusalem, was builded on the solid basis of Mt. Moriah, apparently to indicate not only the exaltation of the Church but also the 'strength of the spiritual Mt. Zion. It was also girded in the same manner. " As the mountains are round about J erusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth, even forever.

Geographical Evidence. - The line of geographical evidence is a lon<- and strong one for the defense of the Bible. History is a truthful teacher, when her statements are faithfully recorded and correctly interpreted. There are witnesses to the truth of history that 'neither die nor change, and their testimony is not to be contradicted or set aside. That founded on the geography and history of the Holy Land is of this type. The Bible has its " testimony'of the rocks'," as well as has science. Its record is made on mountain and in valley, on the shore of sea and rivers, and cm every spot pressed by the foot of patriarch, prophet, or apostle, and especially of Him who came to earth as the Savior of them all The mountains of the Bible, those dusky sentinels with broad granite base, stand vet as God's silent, but unquestioned, witnesses of the truth of Revelation. Seas and rivers testify to the same. These waters flow and their boundaries stand amid the mutations of ages, although the mighty cities which stood upon their banks - that part of the work which was of man - are passed away, only enough of the human remaining to verify the truthfulness of the record. Yet some of the human monuments remain. Jacob's well was dug many centuries ago to water the patriarch's flocks, which fed on the plains of Samaria; but in the ordering of Providence it stood to furnish an occasion for a sublime lesson in many ages that were to follow, and as a perpetual memento of the veracity of His revealed word. The woman and the weary traveler have long since passed away from earth, but every tourist that traverses the land to-day finds that well, sits upon its curb, drinks of its water, and sees all about him the evidence, not to be accounted for by any superstitious awe, that he is on the same spot trodden centuries ago by the Redeemer of mankind, and as many centuries previous to that purchased and named by him who dug" the well, watered his flocks, and prophesied of the "Shiloh" who should come. These works of Nature, with what remains of those of men, are the sturdy testimonies of the literal fidelity of the sacred record.

The same is true of the cities. Jerusalem ! "What wonderful interest attends the very name! Not London, the commercial metropolis of the world, with her immense wealth and population ; not Paris, with her beauty and grandeur; not Borne, with her treasures of ages; none of the cities of the Orient, with their antiquities, or of the Occident, with marvelous vigor, will compare in interest with this ancient city, the metropolis of the religious world. So in some degree of Damascus, Hebron, Tyre, Babylon, cities whose beginning reaches back near to the infancy of our race, and for whose history we are chiefly indebted to the Scriptures.

" The Jordan is the sacred stream of Christendom, as the Nile is of benighted Africa, and the Ganges of pagan India. The Jordan is the sacred stream, not only of the Jew, who has Moses and the prophets ; of the Christian, who cherishes the memories of his Master's life on earth ; of the cast out Ishmaelite, who has dipped his wandering and bloody foot in this river since the days i.l lla";ir- but of the Moslem, faithful also, wide scattered over the world, who all deeply reverence the Jordan. No other river s name is known so long ago nor so far away ns this, which calls up a host of past memories, from the Mohammedan on the plains ot

SlNor is it only of the past that the names of Jerusalem and Jordan tell ; for in the more thoughtful hours of not a tew they hear these names whispering to them sweet, shadowy truths of the future, happier land, that "New Jerusalem," which lies beyond the "Jordan" of death. , Natural Way-Marks. - The Bible has set up these natural way-marks as monuments of Christianity, that generations coming centuries after may behold, read and believe. AU along the line of her history, Christianity hos dropped prophesies, which stand as challenges to the world of the truth or falsity of her records. If fulfilled in the coming ages, they are witnesses which cannot be disputed ; if unfulfilled, the system will go down with them "Prophecy is history foretold, while history is prophecy Mulled. The historian and the prophet, meeting, shake hands over the chasm of the ages, and bear united testimony to the truth ot the earliest record. ^ .

Size of Palestine. - Almost every feature of Palestine marks it as a land chosen by Providence as the theater of the world s great achievements, and a memorial land, where the divine name and truth shall stand recorded. In extent of territory it is small, surprisingly small, being in length less than two hundred miles, and in width less than one hundred in the widest part, while the northern limit is less than fifty miles. The whole land would make only one of the smaller sized States of our nation, lhis smallness of the Holy Land has been a subject of ridicule and sneers by sceptics, as Voltaire and others, who inferred the littleness of the Hebrews' God by the smallness of the territory he had given them for a possession. But such poor attempts at ridicule prove their own littleness by showing that they are uttered against the light of history and the revealings of divine Providence. The interest or importance of a country arises, not from its territorial extent, but from the people who form its living soul, from its institutions bearing the impress of mind and spirit, and from the events which grow out of the character and condition of its inhabitants. The history of many small countries, as Phenicia, Greece, early Rome, Venice, Holland, and especially England, possess an interest and importance to which that of countries ten times as great in extent cannot present the slightest claim.

The Location. - The location and topographical character of Palestine are such that merely human wisdom would not have chosen it as the scene of the astounding events of Bible history, and yet the lapse of ages has revealed the wisdom of the. choice. Its hills and valleys, rivers and lakes, adapted it for division among the several tribes, who, while they preserved their distinct tribaUlivisions, yet constituted a confederated nation. The climate, owing to the situation midway between the equator and the polar circle, was both healthful and adapted to great fertility, so that "Palestine was enriched with all the fruits of the temperate and many of those of the tropical zone."

But more than this is the consideration that the country of the chosen people of Jehovah was to bo the roadway of the nations. "The city of God was built at the confluence of three civilizations." Thus situated, she was literally " a city set on a hill," whose light was to shine on all the peoples around. Thus it was ordered that the great nations of antiquity, by their mutual wars, commerce and travels, their political intercourse, their armies, merchants, philosophers, envoys, were made frequently to pass through the country of the chosen people.

In calling the descendants of Abraham to be a " holy people," or Church, and to become thus the repository of sacred truth for the world, it was, doubtless, the divine intention to make them public to the eye of the surrounding nations. But had Abraham journeyed east or north instead of southwest from Mesopotamia, he would scarcely have been known in history. As it was, the Jews became the most conspicuous nation of the world. Assyria, Babylonia and Persia were on the northeast; Syria on the north; the nations of Asia Minor, Greece and Italy on the northwest; Eo-ypt and Ethiopia on the southwest; the powerful Cushite (Arabian) nations on the south and east. After the coming of Christ, when God, by the institution of a new Church economy, superseded the Jewish polity, the "star of empire" began more rapidly westward to move its way. Europe then became the theater of great events, and its empires the prize of contending nations - not broken, however, until Paul had planted the seed of the gospel there - and Palestine was left, as she is to-day, a remote and neglected province, "as a cottage in a vineyard, a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city."

Advance of Knowledge. - The continual advance of knowledge, and especially of scientific knowledge, makes necessary the publication of new works, through which the new facts may be made known. The printing press is the scholar's trumpeter. In no department, perhaps, has science done more energetic and useful work, in all her active operations, than in exploring the sites of ancient cities or sacred localities, giving at every step confirmations or corrections of the history of the past, as well as new facts to reward the laborer's toil. Every observing reader has been struck with the fact that in all these discoveries nothing has been found to contradict a single statement of the Bible, but all has been in confirmation of its stated facts.

Unearthed Facts. - " Profane history speaks to us to-day with an emphasis made doubly strong by the unearthing of some of the identical sites concerning which its records were made. Nearly two thousand years ago the volcanoes of Italy buried several splendid cities beneath its rain of death. History made the record, and for centuries the site of the buried cities was lost. Yesterday strong arms went out with spade and pick, and to-day the streets of Pompeii, with its forum, suburbs, baths, dwellings and theaters, its people and their customs, are all before our gaze. Classic art, long buried, is lifted out of her ashy grave, and steps forth from her winding sheet of fire. So, too, the forum of ancient Rome, the palace of the Csesars, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the the punic and other edifices of Africa, are dug up, and compelled to speak out in attestation of the veracity ot those who penned their annals."

The truth of the Bible is being remarkably attested in the same manner. We repeat it with emphasis, the Holy Land is, providentially, a memorial land. It abounds with ruins, sites of places mentioned in the Scriptures, many of which have but recently been explored, and speak clearly and emphatically of the accuracy of the inspired historians. The invaluable work of the Palestine Exploration Fund, of the American Palestine Exploration Society, organized to thoroughly explore the Holy Land and the peninsula including Mt. Sinai, must not be overlooked. They have accomplished results which have confirmed the faith of the believer, and completely answered the objections of modern learned scepticism.

But outside of Palestine have these researches been carried with great interest and success. In the dark land of the oppression of God's ancient people, the land which once almost fed the world, where for fifty centuries the pyramids have thrown their shadows on the ever drifting sands at their base, while thousands of generations have come and gone again, while dynasties and kingdoms have arisen and then fallen to rise no more, even here Christianity finds its monuments, along the Nile. Then far in the east, near the first homestead of man, in the "garden" where the Maker walked and talked with the parents of our race ; the great " plain," where man left the monument of his folly and his fall; the thrones and palaces of luxuriance in those kingdoms of regal splendor ; the magnificent palaces of the false gods ; the mighty cities of the earliest civilization ; the history of the peoples, and the monuments they have left to testify of their existence and customs, their greatness and littleness, their strength and weakness - these dumb witnesses are made to speak for the truth after the silence of ages.

"We need not regard it as an evil day upon which we have fallen that infidelity has awakened again to the attack, after her batteries had been silenced so long, and is again bringing every possible influence to bear against Christianity. It is grand to live in such a time, to feel pulse, heart, and brain all stirred afresh, and to bear a part in the conflict on this moral battle-field. There is nothing new in the assaults now being made on the strongholds of Christian faith; it is coeval with the race. There are some new phases in the method of attack. New tactics adopted by the foe demand a corresponding line of defense. Hence, anything bearing on the question of the validity of the Holy Scriptures is and must be of paramount interest. The Bible is not only the armory of the Christian, but his magazine as well.

The historical line of argument for the authenticity of the Scriptures as the revealed word of God, and helps to a clearer understanding of the teachings of the Bible, must be made prominent on the defense. Septicism may deny the experience which Christians offer in evidence as something that it has never felt; it may not see with its blinded eye the things "unknown to feeble sense, unseen by reason's glimmering ray ; " it may substitute fallacy for syllogism in logic and feel self -satisfied at least with the argument ; it may offer its purest morality and benevolence as a substitute for experience in religion ; but as it claims science, which is the knowledge of facts, as the strong plea now of the avowed enemies of the Bible and its religion, its defenders must be prepared to bring up arguments from the unchallenged records of history and the unchanging face of nature, giving voice to these to speak of the divine Author who has given man two harmonious revelations of Himself - Nature and the Bible.

Historical Book. - It should ever be remembered that the Bible ' is largely a historical book, a history of God's dealings with men, and, like any other history, its events should be studied with reference to thne and place. The chief difficulty in the studv of history is the confusion of its events in the mind. This is most effectually overcome by giving to each occurrence its proper locality and appropriate associations, as the law of association is the strongest element of memory. Besides, the eye is the most important avenue to the mind. The Bible student who, with good maps of the countries before him, follows the footsteps of our Savior in his journeyings, and the places mentioned in connection with the lives of patriarch, prophet, or apostle, gains a vivid realization of the story akin to an actual experience. It is no longer to him " like a tale that is told ; " he has seen as well as heard.

Any productions that will meet this present necessity of Bible study, combining the qualities of clearness, correctness, and attractiveness, will be welcomed by the intelligent and pious as a help to the better understanding of what they fully believe, and want to aid others in understanding and believing. The history and geography of the Bible are correct, and at points where men have stumbled and doubted, there only needs new light - the light of truth - to be thrown on the page that has possibly been obscured by ignorance, or wrested by wrong interpretation, to remove all confusion, and thus dissipate all doubt.

This subject is here dwelt upon and emphasized, and presented in various phases, because it has not been accorded the prominence that its merits demand as part of the cumulative evidence for the truth of Christianity and the Bible.

Babylon. - One of the most recent travelers in that country, and a very intelligent and observing man, says he found descendants of the Hebrew captives residing in Hillah, who have their synagogue and strictly observe their Sabbath and Jewish customs of religion; and they have also carefully preserved their pedigree, and trace their lineage clearly to the prince and prophet of Judah. In the town of Kitil is a mausoleum, built in memory of the prophet Ezekiel, in which is a collection of books, many of which date back to the second temple, and some to the first temple. That Ezekiel was there is evident from his own words. Ezekiel I, 1, 2, 3.

Among the Discoveries made at Babylon was a statute in granite of a lion, near ten feet long and high, standing over the prostrate form of a man. Here was evidence that the Jews were in Babylon, and hence the truth of the record the Bible makes of thecaptivity - not conclusive evidence, to be sure, butsuch as would be pointed to with much satisfaction, and be considered strong, if it as clearly confirmed secular history or a scientific statement. Layard discovered near the same place some bowls, made of terra cotta ware,, and written on the inner side with Hebrew characters, in ink, with the writing remarkably well preserved. This writing has been interpreted by the archeologist of the British Museum, who gives it as his opinion that it was written by Jews. This opinion is corfirmed by the statement of Dr. Newman that "the Hebrew captives were corrupted to believe in the divinity practiced by the Chaldeans, and inscriptions were written in ink on the inner surface of charm bowls; the writing was then dissolved in water, to be drank as a cure against disease, or as a precaution against the arts of witchcraft and magic." As the writing on these bowls remains fresh and distinct to this day, it is probable that they had been prepared and laid aside against the coming of the evil day. So these inscriptions confirm some of the errors, which we learn from other sources, the Jews are said to havei held. Thus God makes even the wrath of man to praise Him, while the remainder of wrath he restrains.

Ruins are found corresponding in character with the descriptions profane history gives us of the celebrated Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven "Wonders of the ancient world. It was an artificial mountain covering three and a half acres, near four hundred feet high, covered with trees, plants and flowers, built within the walls of Babylon, by king Nebuchadnezzar for his beautiful queen Amytis, who longed for the mountain scenery of her native Ecbatana, in Persia. Concerning this Jeremiah prophesied: "Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a bui'nt mountain. And they shall

The Bible Verified

Another of these witnesses is the Tower of Babel, which for size and interest is scarcely exceeded by the pyramids of Egypt, while its history extends far back of them, making it the oldest historic monument, known to man ! Its ruins to-day are a majestic pile 700 feet in diameter and 250 feet high. It is found to have been built of the finest burnt brick, and laid with mortar, or cement so tenacious that the bricks are often more easily broken than separated. Dr. Newman says, " The most eminent antiquarians in Babylonian researches regard this ruin as the Tower of Babel." Moses was the first to record the facts of its history, but it has been described by others also, secular historians, Herodotus, Pliny, Strabo, and their statements have been confirmed by more modern travelers, as Rich, Buckingham and Layard, and by the latest and most distinguished explorers of our own day. The record of Moses in regard to the Tower of Babel is so brief and concise that it may here be given in full : "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had. brick for stone and slime for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven : and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth : and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Isabel ; because there the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth. And from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth."

Other Confirmations. - These statements of the inspired penman are confirmed by the writers cited, and others, and also by many important facts disclosed in this age by the very latest researches. Only a few of these can here be given, and those the briefest reference. This region is conceded to be the original plain of Shinar; there are no stone quarries in all this section, but of the soil of mixed clay and sand they make bricks as hard as stone, and this whether they are "burned thoroughly" in kiln or in the sun ; bitumen is found in that vicinity which makes the cement, or "slime," for mortar; the names "Babel" and "Nimrod" are familiar among the people there; scholars very generally agree thatNimrod began to build this tower, confirming the Bible record : "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel." One of the latest travelers there sat on the summit of this mound and read the history of it as written by Moses, saw its literal fulfillment, and gave expression to his thoughts in these words : " "What memories they recall! The wanderings of the descendents of Noah; the ambition and kingship of Nimrod; the high resolve to build a tower which no flood could submerge ; the displeasure of the Lord ; the confusion of tongues ; the dispersion of the people; the lapse of ages which followed ; the completion of the tower by Nebuchadnezzar ; its vast proportions and unrivaled magnificence ; its destruction by Xerxes; the desire of Alexander to restore it to its former glory ; its subsequent desolation for two thousand years, a lair for the lion and a den for the leopard ; and its present imposing aspect, seen by the traveler of to-day, as seen by Alexander and Xerxes three hundred years before the christian era." The conclusion reached by this tourist is irresistible, that whoever was the builder of this tower, at whatever time it was constructed, and for whatever purpose it was reared, two facts are significant: there is no other such ruin in the land of Shinar ; and, if this is not the Tower of Babel, it is a ruin without a name, and whose history is lost in the distant past.

Birs Nimroud. - This tower, or the majestic ruins of what was once the tower, is now called "Birs Nimroud" bv the Arabs, in honor of the " mighty hunter before the Lord." The object of the builders seems to have been a safe retreat in case of another deluge ; yet it afterward served the purposes of a burying place of royalty, a temple for the worship of Belus, and an observatory for the Chaldean astronomers. As the sacred temple of the god Belus, it was probably the repository of "the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem."

But volumes-might be written on the glory of ancient Babylon and its present fallen condition. A prophecy of the unfailing Word said, "Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment, and a hissing, without an inhabitant "

The same interest attaches to the history of Nineveh, to the towns connected with the Bible account of Abraham, and all the lands of the exile, as well as Babylon and the royal palace of Chaldea's kings at Shushan. These places, traced upon the map hereafter mentioned, carry with their very name a power to awaken thought and stir the soul, and give a zest to read all that can be known of this tragic land.

Egypt. - Turning to Egypt, we find that it bears as important a part in Bible history. And this because of its being the dwelling-place of Israel for over two hundred years, and the marvelous events of the exodus, and also of the temporary sojourn of the infant Jesus, with Joseph and Mary, and other events of Scripture history.

Nile. - Its greatest natural wonder is the Nile, whether we consider its sources, which are being sought to the present day, itslength, its delta, its singular overflow and consequent utility, or the astounding events along its shores. The title given it by a celebrated traveler and author, "A river of the North under a Southern sun," indicates a character which marks it as one of the most famous rivers of the world. Its sources and its length are not yet satisfactorily ascertained, although the recent explorationsof travelers, especially of Henry Stanley, have opened to the world a new history of the Nile, and of the country through which it flows. That part of it connected with Bible history and the exodus of Israel are well known. At an ordinary stage of water the Nile has not sufficient depth of water for vessels above the smallest size; but during the inundation the depth of water is forty feet, and the largest vessels can ascend to Cairo. In the latter part of June the mountain waters of Abyssinia, and other sources, begin to arrive, and the river continues to rise until the end of September, when it has attained its maximum. This height is retained about two weeks, during which the entire land is converted into a red, muddy sea, while the only prominent objects above the waste of waters are the towns, date trees, and the dikes, which latter serve as foot-paths for those who travel by land. This condition of the country is referred to by the prophet Amos (VIII., 8) when he uses a strong figure for the overthrow of Israel.

Inundation. - What would be regarded by other nations as a general calamity, a general inundation of the country, is the distinguishing blessing of Egypt, where rain seldom falls ; and the blessings of the season are measured by the height of the overflow, except occasionally an unusual rise causes great damage to the land. The nilometer, which measures the height of the waters, is a gauge of the dispensations of Providence for that season, and a rise of about twenty-four feet marks the standard of blessing. Six feet above this standard, injury ensues; as many below, the harvests fail and Egypt suffers a famine. The water of the river is charged with mud, which is deposited during the inundation over the tillable portions of the country to an average depth of about one-twentieth part of an inch each year. This is most beautifully referred to in the latter half of the sixty-fifth Psalm. Notwithstanding its waters are so turbid, they, strangely, are sweet and wholesome, and are freely drunk by the people, among whom the saying is proverbial that he who has drunk of the waters of the Nile will always want to return and drink again. This fact gives peculiar force to what was said concerning the plague of blood : " The Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river."

When the waters subside, the wet, black soil is sown with all possible alacrity, and is soon covered with a luxuriant growth of herbage, ripening into golden harvests to reward the sower's toil, furnishing "seed to the sower and bread to the eater," and illustrating the beautiful promise of the Scripture in reference to the rewards of charity, " Cast thy bread (seed) upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days."

Irrigation. - The overflow of the "river of Egypt" is beneficial to the country in two respects: the rich slime is deposited on the surface of the land, rendering it highly fertile; and the canals ami pools are filled with water, bv which the higher grounds are irrigated during the ensuing spring. The manner in which irrigation is performed is usually by a wheel or endless belt connected with a series of buckets, after the manner of grain elevators, and worked either by animals or the feet of men. This explains the meaning of Moses when he says to the Israelites, "The land whither thou goest to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: but the land whither ve go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinkest water of the rain of heaven."

Fixed Evidence. - Both the history of Mo;es and the ancient monuments still existing in Egypt, show that agriculture, legislation, and the arts and sciences had then reached quite align degree of perfection. Great buildings bearing the inscription, " No native has been engaged in its construction," testified to the pride of the Pharaohs. The Israelites, who should have enjoyed the hospitality guaranteed tlieui by the law of hospitality to strangers, were treated as slaves, and divine Providence has so ordered it that the imprint of their oppression may be seen upon their monuments to this day. There is to-day to be seen, among the ancient sepulchres of Beni-Hassan, a representation of the labors of the Israelites, and in these figures the characteristic differences between their features and those of the Egyptians is very apparent.

Pyramids. - A reference to Egypt would not be complete without alluding to those gigantic monuments of pride and ambition, the Pyramids. They are about seventy in number, and have inspired the wonder and admiration of the world in all ages of their history. They are at once the oldest, being built about 2,500 years P. C, and the largest standing structures of antiquity, the largest covering about thirteen acres, and being originally about five hundred feet high. It is now no longer doubted that they were designed to serve the two-fold purpose of royal sepulchres and to preserve the name and honor of the kings to future generations. Each king of Egypt seems to have begun his reign by erecting bis pyramid sepulchre, and the length of his reign may often be ascertained by the degree of completion to which his work arrived, for it stopped at his death and another was begun. There is supposed to be in Job III, 14, a reference, the only allusion in the Bible, to the pyramids. They stand in the vicinity of Memphis, near Cairo, too high to be covered by the drifting sands, too strong to be torn down, too heavy to be carried away, as have been Egypt's obelisks to adorn the cities of London, Paris and (Kome.

The pages of the world's history may be challenged to furnish anything more tragical in outline or interesting in detail, than the history of Israel in Egypt and the departure from it, and their journey, all points being traced and followed on the map, until they reach the promised land.

Scripture Fulfillment. - There is more of Scripture fulfillment in the history of Egypt than can here be given, and only a few points are noticed, the fall of Egypt began with the expeditions of the Assyrian kings, Esarhaddon and Nebuchadnezzar, kings of Babylon. Ezekiel describes the terrible devastation of the country by these kings, in the 30th chapter of his prophecy. After enumerating her allies. " those that uphold Egypt," who were destined to fall, he prophecies that she shall be desolated "from Migdol to Syene" - from her northern to her southern border. He states that the destruction should commence in Noph (Memphis), the metropolis, and reach to Pathos, in Upper Egypt. Afterwards a fire should be kindled in Zoan, in Lower Egypt, and the desolation should extend from the city of Sin, on the Mediterranean, to No (Thebes), in Upper Egypt, and thus all the splendid cities in Lower Egypt should be destroyed. The point of power and terror in these prophecies is found in their geography. Jeremiah predicts the same overthrow of this great nation by the Chaldeans, and fixes the date of its occurrence - after the battle of Carchemisb, when the armies of Pharaoh-Necho were defeated by the Assyrians, at the gate of the Euphrates. The prophet Nahuin refers to it in his threatening against Nineveh : "Art thou (Nineveh) better than populous No (Thebes) that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it ? "

Because secular historians do not mention this expedition of Nebuchadnezzar against Egypt, some sceptical ones have questioned the truthfulness of the Bible record and fulfillment of the prophecies ; but, as usual, science and discovery have come to the rescue and confirmed the Scriptures, by finding an indubitable monument of the fact in the ruins in old Cairo, which once bore the name of Babylon, showing that the city must have been built by the Chaldeans, who gave it that name.

Peculiarities of Palestine. - This line of argument might be extended to almost any limit, but must now be confined to noticing a few special features of Palestine. The first view of the country is said by all to be interesting and exciting in the extreme. Those are the veritable mountains and plains, rivers and lakes, if not the same cities and trees, of the most interesting country, to the Christian, especially, on the face of the earth. Not so because of its extent, or superior soil or climate, much less for its present because it is the theater of many of the most important events in the history of man, and particularly because here once pressed the feet of Him who came from heaven, who was at once the son of man and the Son of God. After weeks or months of anxiety, while voyaging across the waters or trudging the burning sands' it is not strange that the first glimpse of the Holy Land should awaken peculiar feelings in the traveler's bosom.

known in Scripture as "The Great Sea," Everv part of this sea has been freighted with unusual interest by its' associations with Bible history. It is a sea of rich classic memories, too, as Dr. Butler observes ; where, long ere the Anglo-Saxon race was known as a power on earth, there sailed the rich-laden ships of nations that are now in their graves. Here the vessels of Tyre's "merchant princes," when she was the "mart of nations," were found bearing the luxuries of the east to the borders of the Atlantic. Here the fleets of Egypt, of Carthage, of Greece, of Rome, and of the Moslem, sailed, when such names as those of Alexander, and Cleopatra, and Caesar; and Hannibal, and the Crusaders, filled the ears of the world with their deeds of commerce or of conquest. On these waves the fate of nations has once and again been decided, and the horrid trade of war frequently reddened them with human gore. Here Jonah, unfaithful to his mission, sought to fly "from the presence of the Lord," and, ere he could arrest his blind career, sank into these depths and found himself in the " belly of hell." Here St. Luke, and Timothv, and Titus, sailed, and here the great apostle of the Gentiles" was "in perils of waters," suffered shipwreck, and gained a wonderful deliverance. Within sight of this sea a large portion of the Holy Scripture was written; and, above all, on its eastern shore Immanuel once walked, and from it drew some inimitable illustrations, when teaching " on the coast of Tyre and Sidon."

The voyage along the coast gives a fine profile of the country, and it is a constant surprise to visitors to find it so hillv, and the water-courses such deep indentations in the land. Lonf before reaching the harbor tho lofty peaks of Mt. Lebanon may°be seen, lifting their snow capped heads ten thousand feet above the level of the sea. The snow upon its summit never melts but in the hottest months of summer, while some remains all the year round in places which the sun's rays cannot reach. From base to summit it carries the climate of the various zones. The Arabians say of this mountain, that " winter rests on its head, spring plays upon its shoulders, while summer slumbers at its feet."

Mountains of the Bible. - "Let them which are in Judea flee to the mountaiDS." Each one of these is charged with thrillinointerest, and each holds in its rocky bosom the testimony to the truth! J

Mt. Ararat, whereon the ark rested, rises to the height of 17,200 feet. It was ascended, after great toil, by Professor PaYrott, in 1S29, probably then trodden by the foot of man for the first time since Noah stepped upon it from the ark to survey the desolations of a deluged world. Mt. Carmel, the bold promontory on the Mediterranean coast, forming the bay of Acre, is the termination of a range six miles long, and whose highest peak is S00 feet. Its summit was the scene of a trial between Elijah and eight hundred prophets of a false divinity, as to whether Jehovah °or Baal was the true God. Mts. Ebal and Geeizui, in Samaria, rise about 800 feet above the level of the plain, having a vallev less than one thousand feet in width between them. Here was'performed the grand ceremony of reciting alternately the blessings and curses of the law by the priests, while the people in the valley between responded with a thundering "Amen." Mt. Hor, risino- 3,000 feet, was the scene of Aaron's death. Mt. Tabor, a beautiful mountain, standing alone in the border of the great plain, south of Nazareth, was the traditional spot where the Savior was transfigured before his disciples, but later investigations give the honor of that sublime event to another place. Mt. Sinai, a wild desolate region of peaks and precipices, ravines and water-courses, was a fitting place for the startling transactions there, where " the Lord descended in fire," and gave his law to Moses and to man. Mt. Hermon, the prominent, grand, snowy peak of Lebanon, was' beyond doubt, the scene of the transfiguration, where saints and disciples met to hold converse with Him who belonged to both worlds I Mt. Moriah is made immortal as the spot where Abraham offered Isaac in faith, afterward one of the hills on which Jerusalem was built, the site of Solomon's Temple, the veritable Calvary, where a greater than Isaac was offered up and not released, but died, cut off for sins, but not his own. Mr. Zion many times referred to in the Scriptures as the " holv hill," beautiful for situation, was another of the four hills upon which Jerusalem was built. The Mount of Olivks, deriving its name from tho number and beauty of its olive trees, sacred as the frequent resort of our Savior for meditation and prayer, is to-dav the burial place of the Jews in Palestine. The graceful Tabor and lofty Hermon are selected by the psalmist as the representatives of all the mountains of the Bible (Psalm 89, 12). The reader and lover of the Bible should become familiar with the location and history of every one of these mountains, for they speak important truths through the silence of the ages.

Trees of the Bible. - E ven the trees of the Bible are monuments of the events recorded in the Book. The name of " Moreh " was given to an oak near Shechem, where Abraham first halted their branches, erected altars there, and there buried their d languished dead. This would often give proper names to the trees, as Allon-Bachuth, "oak of weeping," at Bethel, where Deborah was buried. Many other instances will be recalled, illustrating the historical argument. Trees furnished the subject of many striking comparisons in the Old Testament, to illustrate the character of men, and in the New Testament the beautiful parables of Him who spake as never man spake.

Plea for Progress. - If there is one cause above another that demands the use of the best means in accomplishing its intended purposes, that cause would seem to be that of read w the sacred Scriptures, whether is considered the interest that attends the Word itself, or the important ends to be compassed on the minds and hearts of men. But progress in this direction has not always kept pace with the wonderful activities of the age in other respects.

where the Scriptures were written, is the apology, if one were ;ounsels beneath necessary, of dwelling so long upon this theme, and pointing out

In this view the author of these pages stands not alone, but is confirmed by the most eminent scholars and travelers. Since the foregoing was written there fell under the author's eye some thoughts in the same line, from an eminent scholar and author in his - Notes of Travel Through Bible Lands," which are so appropriate to the subject now in hand, that they are here made to serve a double part.

Real Eastern Life. - The progress of actual travel, says our learned traveler, in the Orient, is slow ; but not too slow for en ioyand teach- ment and instruction. A whole day is required for a distance ""** that can be traversed by railway in an hour. The mode of traveling in the Desert, the "Holy Land, and in parts of Egypt, is the same as in the days of the patriarchs, more than three thousand years ago; and that is one of its peculiar charms, which will be broken when modern civilization shall have penetrated the East, but which helps to preserve the reality of that country to us through the passing, changing ages. We engage a dragoman, who provides the outlit and acts as interpreter between the trays wiser in their generation than the children of light.

become a factor, hardly less important than the pulpit itself , in efficiency and methods it compares but poorly with institutions for general education. In secular schools, in teaching that wisdom which is "foolishness with God," we secure the most experienced and accomplished teachers ; and the latest and best productions in text-books and apparatus are carefully and judiciously selected.

Habits of Orientals. - In the Orient all is primitive and novel to Europeans and Americans. Their first impression is wonderment at the strange sights of men and things, which appear to them like a masquerade or fancy fair gotten up for their amusement. The Orientals, judged by Western habits, do everything I-, I - ----- - the wrong way; they eat with the fingers; they sit, not on chairs,

Under such wise management our public and secular schools have but cross-legged on the floor, or the earth - they keen their women become models of classification, system, method ; and their useful- veiled and out of public sio-lif they write on their knees and ness has kept even pace with their discipline. The Sabbath School from right to left; they take off their shoes in the mosk- or and religious instruction do not always show the same wise adapt- church, and keep on their caps; their tools as saw or plane they ation of means to ends. A want of thorough organization and draw toward them, instead of push Any scrap of cotton or classification, and inefficient teaching, and most wretched facilities linen, or silk, of any color; a blanket, a shawl, a sash a shirt tor Bible study, with a general looseness and lack of system in loosely thrown over the body, serves them as a dress; but they are some of its most common faults. always look picturesque, and have a native courtesy and dio-nity that has been more sharply criticised than its literature; and there garly condition, is much justice in the criticism. The catechism, with its carefully Modern civilization prepared formulas, has been set aside, it may be wisely, but its

While it is true that much of Sabbath School literature is "pow- over crowned erful weak," yet it is also true that much criticism of this, as of " other things, may be given that is mere captious fault-finding, pointing out defects without suggesting improvements. The monotonous ; it has a tendency to level distinctions and to impress a uniform type upon men of all classes of society ; it sets up the dumb idol of fashion, which rules supreme over crowned monarchs and republican presidents. In the East there is much more independence and variety ; there the Arab, the Turk, the Armenian, the Maronite, the Copt, the Jew, the Nubian, the Bedouin, the dervish, the priest, the official, the merchant, the ofbZyCt«»h P,fJain1ing t0, its ^erature.ls an important adjunct mechanic, the barber, the dragoman/the donkey-boy^ the' runner" School; and such a useful agency should not be the singer, the serpent-charmer, the iiiui-.eller, the water-carrier away because it has sometimes been abused. This will apply to every system of Lesson Helps, to periodical publications and to apparatus, as well as to library books, maps, etc.

the slave, the beggar, - all appear in their distinct individuality and costume; each consults his own taste or whim, and is never disturbed by the ever-changing fashions of Paris.

What is the use of traveling in the East! queries some reader. Does it repay for all the time, the money, the fatigue, the vexaimpart religious instruction, and to this end to teach an accurate tion and annoyance inseparable from it!" The reaTlv answer a^TiTk^°T¥ge °f *f» Scriptures.. The Bible, therefore, the benefit of travel depends upon the disposition SdVepSon °f the traveler. Such preparation is especially necessary in the their tendency and ability to ill ustrate and attract toward its paces there is a place in the Sabbath School for every book, picture, chart, map, or other appliance, which makes more vivid the story ol the life and death of our Savior, or which helps to explain the history, trials and conquests of his people. With a little care the trash may be supplanted with works of this character.

A prominent reason why more of the valuable and profitable has not taken the place of the worthless in our Sunday Schools and families, is a want of care in looking for the best thino-s of tins kind, and, what is more, a certain false economy - shall we say downright penuriousness? - that makes the fatal mistake of buying things that are cluap. Happily the mistake is being discovered, and as better counsels prevail, there will be a demand for that which is fresh and really good, even at a larger price, knowing that in these things, as in anything else, "the lest is always the cheapest. The growing demand is producing the supply, and some really excellent things are being now put tfefore the world

East. Multitudes of travelers return as ignorant and empty as when they start; while others, from the study of books, may become as familiar with foreign nations and countries as with their own. The more knowledge the traveler carries out with him, the more he will bring back.

Substitute for Travel. - Fortunately, it is not necessary for the majority of readers to visit Bible lands in order to understand the Bible, any more than it is necessary for them to know Greek and Hebrew. Some of the best Biblical scholars and commentators never visited the Holy Land. Dean Howson prepared the geographical sections which gave the great work, " Life and Epistles or bt Paul, such a wide popularity, wholly from books. Even the tounder of the science of comparative geography, Carl Hitter, never saw Palestine and the Sinaitic Peninsula, which he so tully and so accurately described.

But, after all, it is an inestimable advantage to see with one's own eyes the birth-places of the authors of the Sacred Writings a? tJ-u surroum,lngs. the scene where the astounding events of the Bible transpired, and to be able to speak from personal observafollowing there is reference to a production" of "this kind,' whtch needs only to be seen to be appreciated and approved geography and history, the customs and people, the time and circumstances under which the events transpired that are recorded in the Scriptures, makes it almost as real to the reader as seeing it for himself by travels in the Holy Land. A thoughtful traveler fills his memory with a gallery of photographic pictures more valuable than books, and yet he reproduces those scenes in a series of views in books and maps, to make the scenes almost as vivid to the reader or student as they are to himself. Afterward, whenever he reads of the visits of Abraham, Joseph, and Jacob to Egypt, of the miracles of Moses, of the wanderings of the Israelites, of Hebron, Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Dead Sea, the river Jordan, the lake of Gennesaret, Mt. Hermon, the cedars of Lebanon, Jerusalem, Bethany, Gethsemane, Calvary, Mt. Olivet, the places are familiar to him and the scenes rise up before his mental eye with a vividness which they never had before.

The present ruinous condition of those countries may diminish the poetry, but the impression of the reality is only deepened by the view around us. Palestine has been termed, and not inaptly, "the fifth Gospel;" its present condition is a comment on the truth of the whole. It is the framework in which the canonical Gospels are set. Perfect familiarity with the country and its history and customs is of more practical value in Bible interpretation, to make it natural and attractive, than a course of lectures from learned professors in Berlin or Oxford, valuable as they may be. The best thing, of course, is to combine the most thorough theoretical study with personal observation on the spot; but this can be enjoyed by only a favored few, whose time and means will allow them such a privilege; yet any reader can now enjoy the benefit of the travels and observations of those who have visited the place, by the outlay of a very small amount of either time or money, if he has the ambition and energy to use what others have prepared and written for his good. A sound and correct historical understanding of the Bible has gained much from the researches of scholarly travelers, and will gain still more in time to come. The Holy Scriptures have a human body, as well as a divine soul; they strike their roots deep in the soil from which they sprang, while their ideas soar to heaven ; they are thoroughly oriental, and yet wonderf idly adapted for all mankind and in all ages of the world.

The Wants Met. - There can be no question but that the essential conditions spoken of in the preceding pages are chiefly met, more fully than anywhere else, in the set of Maps that have just been published by Mr. H. H. Hardesty, the experienced map publisher of Toledo and Chicago, and which are inserted in this work.

This is a valuable addition to a family work of this kind, something entirely new, no such feature being found in any other publication. Careful attention is invited to the following points in regard to the maps :

The necessity and satisfaction of a good map to an intelligent reader or student need not be argued. Since, in our own country, but a few years since, so manv friends at home read the papers with map in hand, following the army in which some member of the household was fighting or falling in the war between the States, the people of this country have learned to appreciate the value of a map. Much more is this true in reading of countries far away, and of which we know so little. There is exciting interest, as well as vast importance, in the study of Bible history and geography - but only so with good helps. Without such helps it is dry, tedious and unsatisfactory.

Accuracy" and Newness. - Of Bible maps now on the market, nearly all are copies of antiquated publications, compiled before the Ordinance Survey of Palestine and other Bible countries was made, and hence have not the advantage of the recent important discoveries and explorations. Hence, many of the geographical and historical discrepancies of the Bible, and so-called u Mistakes of Moses."

These Maps are all new; they are compiled from the latest and most reliable authorities, and take in all the essential facts of the latest researches. Each map in the series is the result of years of research by experienced engineers and Bible scholars. The engraving is first class, done by a competent artist and under the supervision of the publisher, who has had twenty years of experience in the business. The coloring, or rather painting, is all done by hand, at large expense, which gives that sharp, positive appearance peculiar only to painting.

Special Features. - While there are some features of these maps that are possessed by others, it is but candor and justice to the publisher, and to the public, to say that there are improvements and important advantages in them over all others. As they are the latest, they are also the best. One of these is an Imdex of Plaoes. To a person not familiar with Bible geography, this is au advantage that cannot be over-estimated, and to all readers is a great saving of time 1 but by taking up the map of Paul's Travels and glancing clown the Index to L, it is seen that Lystra is found in square K - e, and in a moment the place is seen, and the connection between the events at Lystra and those at Derbe, Antioch and Iconium, as recorded in Acts XIV, are plain and full of intense interest. And so of many other places. The reader has not to search a large map over to find a place and then perhaps fail ; but has all the advantage of the great amount of time and care it required to prepare the Index.

Another special advantage is in the classification of names and places on the Index, so that the reader can find all the mountains, or rivers, or cities, etc., in the list under that head.

But a feature that was the fruit of much careful effort, and one that will be much appreciated, is the pronunciation of every word on all the maps, (excepting the Arabic names on that of "Modern Palestine) according to the latest and best authorities. With the syllables divided and accents marked as they are, any one can easily pronounce those "dreadful" Bible names, and soon become familiar with them. Uniform and correct Bible pronunciation among divines, teachers and students of the Bible is something greatly to be wished, and it is believed that this work will contribute much toward that end.

Another feature that will prove of great value is that of indicating by concentric circles the distances of all Bible places, and modern geographical places also, from the selected center. On one map the center is Jerusalem; on another the distances are measured from the great commercial metropolis of our own country, New York. It is a great satisfaction in reading to know just the distance Jerusalem is from Rome, or from Babylon, or how far any of these places are from New York. To ascertain any of these the reader does not have to stop and find a rule, or something else, to measure the scale of miles, but has only to count the circles from the center to that place, and he knows it all.

The Engraved Journeys on the several maps, with the names and numbers of the stations or stopping places, will prove a great satisfaction, not only to younger students, but to advanced ones as well. To trace these journeys will give young persons an unfailing source of pleasure, and awaken a new relish for the study of the Scriptures.

For General Use. - These maps, for every day reference in general secular reading, are worth far more than their cost in their educative influence in a family, being convenient, plain, and attractive. With a set of these in hand a child can get an intelligent idea of what he reads, especially of foreign news.

The Expense. - It is little expense to reproduce in smaller form a copy of some antiquated map, and such copies may be sold cheap. They cost little and are worth little. But these Maps are new in every particular. A great amount of time and labor and large expenditure of money have been necessary to compile, engrave and publish a work adapted to the present wants of the Bible reader and Sabbath School worker, in this age of advanced thought and correct information.

Such a work is produced in this series of maps, and yet they are sold at a price no higher than many of those inferior articles of not one-tenth the cost or vaiue of these. A set of wall maps, covering the territory and advantages of this set of Maps, would cost at least one hundred dollars, besides being very inconvenient to use.

The plan of this map is entirely new, nothing of the kind being before the public. The two peculiar advantages of it are to show, first, the relative position of any place in the Scripture world to our own country; and, secondly, the distance of any given point from New York. The iormer is seen at a glance, with its latitude and longitude. The distance is calculated almost as quickly, as concentric circles are drawn, each representing one hundred miles, and these are marked every four hundred miles, so that the reader does not need to count the circles even, except those between the circles that have the number of miles from the center marked upon them. As an instance, every one will be interested in knowing the distance of Jerusalem from New York. A glance at the map shows that Jerusalem is very near to the circle midway between that marked " 5G00 M. from N. Y." and that marked "6000 M. from N. Y.," which shows that it is only a few miles over five thousand eight hundred (5,S00) miles from the metropolis of our country. As to its relative position, the map shows it to he eight -degrees of latitude, near five hundred miles, south of New York. Babylon, it will be observed, is about four hundred and twenty-five miles from Jerusalem, and directly east, as it falls on the same parallel of latitude. Rome falls exactly four thousand seven hundred miles from New York, and but two degrees farther north. St. Petersburg, in Russia, and Suez, in Egypt, fall on the same circle, and are hence the same distance from New York. London, England, is found to be four thousand one hundred miles, and a trifle over, from New York.

Mount Vesuvius, centuries ago, buried cities with its stiffening breath, and Etna is belching forth its thunder and its rivers of death while this is being written. To glance from the morning paper at this map - but a moment's work - will give a fresh zest to the news brought by lightning last night from the points over four thousand seven hundred miles away.

Much that is said of No. 1 is true also of No. 2. If No. 1 is so valuable for general reading, No. 2 is indispensable for intelligent and satisfactory Scripture study. All Scripture history centers in Jerusalem, the metropolis of the Christian world. It was recognized as the world's religious capital from the time of David to that of "David's greater Son;" and "Beginning at Jerusalem" was the order of work under the gospel dispensation. A circle of less than fifty miles radius will cover all the territory traveled by Christ on earth, excluding his flight into Egypt when he was an infant. The mission of the Apostles was much wider. Paul crossed the Rubicon of the world, and carried the Christian banner over not only Palestine and Syria, but over all Asia Minor and the Islands of the Egean Sea; and not stopping here he sailed over the boundaries of continents and went as far west as Greece and Rome.

How far must Paul go from Jerusalem in order to "appeal unto Caesar?" Look at the map; it quickly and accurately tells; 1,450 miles in an air line. How many miles he zigzagged about the coast of the Mediterranean, or how many while "driven up and down in Adria," no one can tell. How far away was that "cloak " which Paul left at Troas, and which he wrote to Timothy to bring to Rome to cover the shivering form of the prisoner, "Paul, the aged," as he lingered in Nero's prison? Timothy carried it and the " books" and " parchments" over 700 miles!

Raraeses, the starting point of the exodus of Israel, was by our map exactly 200 miles from the capital of the promised land. The distances which the Jews, were carried in the captivities, the journevings of Abraham, the location of Mt. Ararat, where the ark rested and where Noah disembarked to begin anew in the world. These and all other questions of Bible bistorv are invested with a new interest and profit when studied with the aid of such a map.

The country is there represented as it was in the history recorded of that time. The allotments of the tribes of Israel, the surrounding nations with which they so often warred, the cities as they then stood and were visited by patriarch, king and prophet; the cities of Pusfuo-e both east and west of Jordan ; cities of various classes here marked by different characters; Scripture reference to important events of Bible historv, and dates of battles fought at these points in later times, make this map invaluable to the reader of the Old Testament, who desires to be thoroughly furnished in his work. These places stand as God's monuments and historical arguments in this first volume of His Revelation to man.

It is no less satisfactory or instructive to see the Holy Land as it was in the days when Jesus and his disciples and apostles trod its shores. The Tribes had ceased to hold their allotted parts, the captivities and captures ot this land - the prize of all the nations - had changed the political divisions of the country, and our map shows it as it was under Eoman rule, with the four important divisions of Judea, Samaria, Galilee and Perea made prominent.

Another feature of this map that will give much pleasure and profit is the Journeys of Jesus, as here engraved, with the several routes numbered and the direction of travel indicated by darts with a list of places visited by the Savior, and a reference to the place m Scripture where the record of the fact may be found. To follow up the several journeys, with Bible and this map and index in hand, would give a most pleasing chronological outline of the life of Christ on earth. To mark out and engrave these journeys of Jesus and prepare the Scripture references, cost much time and labor, and both young and old will be delighted with it deliverance from its bondage, their journey to Canaan, and final possession of the promised land. When the typical meaning of all this is considered, the wanderings and trials of this world, the final deliverance from its sins and sufferings, and the entrance into the land of rest, wherein is the "New Jerusalem," the interest greatly increases in the literal historv. Every step of the way is a marvel and a miracle, and we want' to see it'all.

What a wonderful journey ! From Egypt, the granary of the world, their asylum in famine, the land of the Pyramids, the Pharaohs, and the Ptolemies ; the notable passage of the Red Sea ; down the coast of the Gulf of Suez; the long halt at Sinai, where, amid thunderings and lightnings terrible, God gave his law to man; by the fountains which were opened in the desert for their refreshment ; where bread fell from heaven to feed them when famishing, and meat came to them on feathery wing; where fiery serpents destroyed them when they disobeyed ; where foes met them and were defeated; where the spies were sent out and returned with the grapes of EsIicdI ; the sad turning back, when on the very borders of the promised land, and the thirty-eight years of wandering again ; the final joyful journeying Canaanward, from the Gulf of Akaba ; the perilous passage through Edom and Moab; the halting at Nebo, while Moses should "view the landscape o'er" and die; the crossing of the Jordan; the place where tlie ark rested in Canaan, and where shouts went up when they had safely passed the miraculous water-gates, as they did at both ends of their journey ; - every place has wonderful associations and lessons, and we must trace them at every step.

The Boute of the Israelites, with every station named and numbered, and the direction of travel shown by darts, with a list of the stations, is a feature of this map that' is pointed to with pride as a very useful acquisition to Bible learning. It was made the subject of study and careful research for a full year by an experienced Bible scholar, when the International Sunday School Lessons covered this portion of Bible history, lias been revised and improved by him up to the present date, with all the latest observations of travelers to assist him, and is believed to be as correct as it can be made. With this map before the Bible reader, the wilderness of Zin is made to bud and blossom like the rose.

If the history of the Exodus and possession of the promised land was full of interest, that of the Exile and return are scarcely less so. As this country has been, until recently, but little explored, a Bible map of it is comparatively a new thing. Since the recent travels and explorations of eminent men, especially of Rev. Dr. Newman, of Washington, D. C, who traveled a thousand miles on horseback through this country, and gave the world his intelligent and interesting observations among the " Thrones and Palaces of Nineveh and Babylon," this section of tile Bible lands has become of the same intense interest as other portions. Such histories possess more thrilling interest than any "Arabian Nio-hts Entertainment," and Persia and Assyria will for some time be°the scene of fresh biblical interest, and such a map as this better appreciated, as the history of Daniel and the captives, of Nebuchadnezzar and Xerxes, is studied more and more.

The location of the Garden of Eden, man's primeval home is fixed according to the most reliable authorities. The relative position and distances of the palace of Shushan, the scene of the touching events in the life of beautiful Queen Esther; Nineveh and Babylon, those marvels of history, the distance and direction of the captives on their going out and return, are some of the things which render this map of such great value.

On this map are also those striking and instructive illustrations of the Mountains of the Bible, giving a draft, or picture, of the mountains, with the actual height of each, and their comparative height with each other. By this it is seen that Mt. Ararat mounts up over 7,000 feet above all the sacred mountains, while Carmel is the lowest of all but one.

The other illustration is the actual and the comparative length of the Rivers of the Bible, from Kidron, the shortest, to the majestic " river of Egypt," still the puzzle of the traveler, the marvel of the world. The illustration also shows the waters into which all Bible rivers empty. The sacred Jordan, with its serpentine course, stands fourth in the order of length, though second to none m the interest that gathers about its name. These illustrations are attractive, and far more interesting to the youno- than a table of dry figures of distances and heights. ° with everv prominent place in the city named or numbered, so that it may be referred to in the list. To visit this holy city, to feel the inspiration of saying, "Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem," is the acme of interest felt by travelers in the East to-day. Many can never enjoy this privilege, and must substitute for it the study of a map and histories which represent it as it is.

Few things at the world-renowned Chautauqua Assembly attract so much attention as the literal representation of the holy land by the Park of Palestine, where mountains are marked by mounds, seas and rivers shaped into proper proportions and tilled with water, cities made of marble blocks in the proper places, and so real, though on a scale of an acre to one hundred miles. But the long lingering of the multitudes in the Park is before the city of Jerusalem, built a foe simile of the holy city as it stands in Palestine to-day, with elevations and depressions, walls and streets, minarets and towers, mosks, etc., etc., all true to life.

The draft of this map is after that model, with criticisms and corrections made by one who has several times visited Chautauqua and become familiar with all the wonders there. "With this map and the accompanying Index and Explanations, one can soon become as familiar with Jerusalem as with the city in which he lives. The Haram esh-Sherif, the Noble Sanctuary, encloses the site of the ancient Temple, and the Mosk of Omar covers the mystery of mysteries, the sacred rock. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre covers that tenderest spot of earth, "the place called Calvary," where Jesus was crucified. The wailing place of the Jews, and almost every place of interest, is here pointed out.

After seeing the city, one wants to take a view of its surroundings. "Mountains are round about Jerusalem." It is built on mountains. Prom its elevation the view is grand. The best view of the city is from Mt. Olivet, on the east.

Our map shows the celebrated Valley of Jehoshaphat, with the "sweet-flowing Kiclron ; " the sacred Mount of Olives and Garden of Gethsemane, the favorite retreat of Jesus for rest and prayer; Bethany, where, in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, the Master found a loving welcome and more than repaid the hospitality with his heavenly benedictions, - the spot where last his feet touched earth as he took his heavenward flight. There are objeots of interest in every direction. The Water Works of Solomon are shown, standing after the lapse of nearly twenty-nine centuries ^so, also, castles, towers, churches, springs, pools, tombs, ruins, and roads in every direction from the city, - the way the Savior went to Bethlehem, to Jericho, to Emmaus, to Egypt, or to his native Nazareth in Galilee. The interest in the environs of Jerusalem is equal to that of the places within its walls and gates

There is more interest in this map than appears upon the first view. After studying the Holy Land as it was in the days of the Old Testament, then as it was in the time of Christ, and seeing the holy city and its wonderful surroundings, a strong desire arises to see the country as it is to-day, under Turkish rule, and even to know, if we cannot pronounce, the present names of the places named in the Sacred Records. Many of the Bible names can never bo changed. Jerusalem is called by the Turks El Kuds, "The Holy," but it is called by the world Jerusalem, and will be to the end of time. Yet, for intelligent reading of the history and travels of to-day, there must be some knowledge of the present names of places in Palestine. The traveler writes or speaks of visiting Animas, and the pleasing associations of the place, and unless we know that he means Emmaus, we lose the pleasure and profit of his observations. So of Bahr Lid, the Dead Sea. The terra Wady is used very often with travelers and explorers, but their ideas are unintelligible until we know that it means a driedup water-course. So of Tell, a hill, and JVakr, a river, and many others. To make plain and practical this map, which looks like one of some foreign language, not only the ever-useful Index is given, as in all the maps, Dut there is added to this a glossary of Arabic names, and often a glance at that will give the meaning of the word, and the spot of its location, and all the old ideas will spring up that cluster round the Bible name, and the thought will be the fresher from having been concealed, and from the small effort made to reveal its meaning, on the same principle that children always enjov the old game of "hide and seek."

Palestine is a land of ruins, and a prominent feature of this map is that it shows the Ruins, Churches and Convents - in short, the land as it now exists. Towns are represented by a certain character, rums by another, convents by a picture of a house, and churches by the same with a cross upon it. The Well of Jacob is found upon the map, because the well dug by the patriarch more than 3,600 years ago, is still there I

No matter who may possess this land, or what names may be given to its places, the interest in it will be the same until it is again possessed and beautified by the people of God, which will be done, but by no one - Jew, Mohammedan nor Pagan - who does not recognize Jehovah as God, or receive as the Savior, Jesus, whom He hath sent.

Enough has been said on the other maps to show the great value of this. If the others are very important and interesting, this is indispensable. The amount of information that is here thrown into one map is really marvelous. Pull and complete as it is in detail, the Index makes it as plain as A, B, C. Extending from Mt. Ararat to Home in one direction and from the Danube to Cairo in the other, it is quite a complete Bible map of itself, and yet covers no more territory than is required by its title. Few persons, having tested it, will be willing to part with it even for the price of the set.

Paul's Conversion. - As Paul was " not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles," so his life looms up in grand proportions, and his labors and teachings are second only to those of the Master himself. Between Jerusalem and Damascus, on a day, a light from heaven, brighter than the sun at noonday, fell upon the vision of St. Paul, and afterward the scales fell from his eyes. A new light also dawned upon the world that day, for wherever Paul traveled, though sometimes his footsteps were marked with blood, yet they opened a pathway for the fallen sons of men to follow. After his active ministry began, Antioch in Syria was the point of departure, when he turned away from the Jews to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.

The engraved Routes of Travel on Paul's missionary tours is a very valuable feature of this jnap. The several journeys are engraved and numbered so as to be easily traced, the Scripture reference to the fact is recorded, and a full list of the stopping places on each journey given in the Index. The value would be almost doubled of reading the life and labors of Paul in the New Testament, or of Conybeare and Howson's life of St. Paul, with such a map as this in hand. No one can arise from its perusal without being impressed with the intense interest that attaches to the proper reading of the Scriptures, and the strong proof of their inspiration in the literal fidelity of their historical statements.

If these Maps docs not advance these two ends, these worthy purposes, it is difficult to see how learning and labor can be used to advantage.

This is a chart found on No. 1, and fills to excellent advantage a vacant corner on that map. It is a map of the two hemispheres, on Mercator's projection, showing the location and relative strength of Paganism, Mohammedanism, and the various branches of the Christian religion - the Greek and Roman churches, and Protestantism.

As long as "the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty,'-' there will be an open field for Christian workers. This map well represents the fields, and those who are occupying them. This is an excellent missionary map, and, enlarged upon a black-board, would afford an impressive illustration for a missionary lecture or sermon. This map, unlike the others, will necessarily be liable to change as the gospel spreads, for the dark portions will brighten up and the shadows grow less under the enlightening influence of the Sun of Righteousness, until all the nations come under His sway and under the Reign of Grace.

THE PLANET. - The globe on which we live is the third planet in order from the sun, and the sixth in point of size, as compared with the other planets. For a long time it was supposed to occupy a middle position between the smaller and greater members of the solar system ; but since the discovery of Neptune and Uranus, astronomers have assigned it a place among what are called the "planetoids," of which it is much the largest.

The Form and Magnitude of the Earth. - To a spectator so placed as to have an unobstructed view all round, the earth appeal's to be a circular plain, on whose circumference the vault of neaven seems to rest. Accordingly, in ancient times even philosophers looked upon the earth as a flat disc swimming upon the water. But many appearances were soon observed to be at variance with this idea, and even in remote antiquity the spherical form of the earth began to be suspected by individuals. It is only by assuming the earth to be spherical that we can explain how our circle of vision becomes wider as our position is more elevated; and how the tops of towers, mountains, masts of ships, and the like, come first into view as we approach them. There are many other proofs that the earth is a globe. Thus, as we advance from the poles towards the equator, new stars, formerly invisible, come gradually into view ; the shadow of the earth upon the moon, during an eclipse, is always round; the same momentary appearance in the heavens is seen at different hours of the day in different places on the earth's surface; and lastly, the earth, since 1519, has been circumnavigated innumerable times. The objection to this view that readily arises from our unthinking impressions of up and down, which immediately suggest the picture of the Inhabitants of the opposite side of the earth - our antipodes - with their heads downwards, is easily got over by considering that on all parts of the earth's surface down is towards the earth's center, and that whatever man's place may be on the earth, ho occupies the same position relatively to other astronomical bodies.

It is not, however, strictly true that the earth is a sphere; it is slightly flattened, or compressed, at two opposite points - the poles - as has been proved by actual measurement of degrees of latitude, and by observations of the pendulum. It is found that a degree of a meridian is not everywhere of the same length, as it would be if the earth were a perfect sphere, but increases from the equator to the poles; from which it is rightly inferred that the earth is flattened there. A pendulum, again, of a given length is found to move faster when carried towards the poles, and slower when carried towards the equator, which shows that the force of gravity is less at the equator than at the poles ; or, in other words, that the center, the seat of gravity, is more distant at the former than at the latter. The diminished force of gravity at the equator has, it is true, another cause, namely, the centrifugal (or repulsive) force arising from the rotation of the earth, which acts counter to gravitation, and is necessarily greatest at the equator, and gradually lessens as we move northwards or southwards, till at the poles it is nothing. But the diminution of the force of gravity at the equator, arising from the centrifugal force, amounts to only ^ of the whole force ; while the diminution indicated by the pendulum is The difference, or ^ nearly, remains assignable to the greater distance of the surface from the center at the equator than at the poles. From the most accurate measurement of degrees that has been made, the flattening, or ellipticity, of the earth has been determined by Bessel at 2»m, or soo nearly ; or the equatorial radius is to the polar as 300 to 299. These measurements of degrees determine not only the shape, but the size, of the earth. Bessel's calculations give a geographical mile, or the 60th part of a mean degree of the meridian, at 951.807 toises (2029 yards, thus making the whole circumference 43,526,400 yards), and the equatorial and polar diameters at 6875.6 and 6852.4 geographical miles (7925.6 and 7899.14 English miles) respectively, lo speak popularly, the earth is about 25,000 miles in circumference at the equator, and about 10D miles less around the poles; and its diameter is about 8000 miles at the equator, and about 30 miles less at the poles. The surface of the earth contains nearly 150 millions square geographical miles.

The Mass and Density of the Earth. - We have seen above that the earth is a sphere, slightly flattened at the poles - what is called by geometers an " elliptical spheroid " - of a mean radius of somewhat less than 4000 miles. We have next to consider its mass and density. Nothing astonishes the unscientific reader more than the idea of weighing the earth. There are several ways of doing it, however; and unless we could do it we should never be able to know its density. The first method is by observing how much the attraction of a mountain deflects a plummet from the vertical line. This being observed, if we can ascertain the actual weight of the mountain we can calculate that of the earth. In this way Dr. Maskelyne, in the years 1774-1776, by careful experiments at Schehaliien, in Perthshire, Scotland - a large mountain mass lying east and west, and steep on both sides - calculated the earth's mean density to be five times greater than that of water. The observed deflection of the plummet in these experiments was between 4sec. and 5see. (2) In the method just described there must always be uncertainty, however accurate the observations, in regard to the mass or weight of the mountain. The method known as Cavendish's experiment is much freer from liability to error. This experiment was first made by Henry Cavendish on the suggestion of Michel, and has since been repeated by Reich, of Freyburg, and others. These experiments lead to the conclusion that the earth's mean density is 5.67 times that of water. A third mode has lately been adopted by Mr. Airy, astronomer-royal, by comparison of two invariable pendulums, one at the earth's surface, the other at the bottom of a pit at Hartan colliery, near Newcastle, England, 1200 feet below the surface. The density of the earth, as ascertained by Mr. Airy from this experiment, is between 6 and 7 times that of water ; but for various reasons this result is not to be accepted as against that of the Cavendish experiment. So it may be accepted as almost a scientific certainty, that the earth's density is between 5 and 6 times that of water. The density of the earth being known, its mass is easily calculated, and made a unit of mass for measuring that of the other bodies in the system. The mass of the earth is about ^m that of the sun.

The Motions of the Earth. - The earth, as a member of the solar system, moves along with the other planets round the sun from west to east. This is contrary to our sensible impressions, according to which the sun seems to move round the earth ; and it was not till a few centuries ago that men were able to get over this illusion. This journey round the sun is performed in 365J days, which we call a year (solar year). The earth's path or orbit is not strictly a circle, but an ellipse of small eccentricity, in one of the foci of which is the sun. It follows that the earth is not equally distant from the sun at all times of the year ; it is nearest at the beginning of the year, or when the northern hemisphere has winter, and is then said to be in perihelion ; and at its greatest distance about the middle of the year, orcluring the summer of the northern hemisphere, when it is said to be in aphelion. The difference of distance, however, is comparatively too small to exercise any perceptible influence on the heat derived from the sun, and the variations of the seasons has a quite different cause. The least distance of the sun from the earth is over 94 millions of miles, and the greatest over 96 millions; the mean distance is commonly stated at 95 millions of miles. It follows that the earth yearly describes a path of. upwards of 596 millions of miles, so that its velocity in its orbit is about 19 miles a second.

Besides its annual motion round the sun, the earth has a daily motion or rotation on its axis, or shorter diameter, which is performed from west to east, and occupies exactly 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4 seconds, of mean time. On this motion depends the rising and setting of the sun, or the changes of day and night. The relative lengths of day and night depend upon the angle formed by the earth's axis with the plane of its orbit. If the axis were perpendicular to the plane of the orbit, day and night would be equal during the whole year over all the earth - there would be no change of seasons ; but the axis makes with the orbit an angle of 23Jde<r., and the consequence of this is all that variety of seasons and of climates that we find on the earth's surface ; for it is only for a small strip (theoretically for a mere line) lying under the equator that the days and nights are equal all the year ; at all other places this equality only occurs on the two clays in each year when the sun seems to pass through the celestial equator, e., about the 21st of March and the 23d of September. From March 21 the sun departs from the equator towards the north, till, about June 21, he has reached a north declination of 23Jdeg., when he again approaches the equator, which he reaches about September 23. He then advances southward, and about December 21 has reached a south declination of 23Jdeg., when he turns once more towards the equator, at which he arrives March 21. The 21st of June is the longest day in the northern hemisphere, and the shortest in the southern ; with the 21st of December it is the reverse.

A direct proof of the rotation of the earth is furnished by its compression at the poles. There are indubitable indications that the earth was originally fluid, or at least soft, and in that condition it must have assumed the spherical shape. The only cause, then, that can be assigned for the fact that it has not done so, is its rotation on its axis. Calculation also shows that the amount of compression which the earth actually has, corresponds exactly to what its known velocity and mass must have produced. And another direct proof may be drawn from the observation that bodies dropped from a considerable height deviate towards the east from the vertical line.

If the turning of the earth on its axis is the cause of the apparent daily motion of the heavens, it is an easy step to consider the annual motion of the sun through the constellations of the zodiac as also apparent, and arising simply from a revolution of the earth about the sun in the same direction of west to east. If we consider that the mass of the sun is about 359,000 times greater than that of the earth, and that by the laws of mechanics two bodies that revolve round each other must revolve about their common center of gravity, the idea of the sun revolving about the earth is seen to be simply impossible. The common center of gravity of the two bodies, being distant from the center of each inversely as their respective masses, is calculated to be only 267 miles from the center of the sun, and therefore far within his body, which has a diameter of 882,000 miles. This demonstrates the revolution of the earth round the sun ; and the motions of the planets also, that appear so complicated and irregular as seen by us, can only be satisfactorily explained by assuming that they too revolve round the sun in the same direction as the earth.

The Earth's Temperature. - As we go below the surface we reach a depth beyond which the -interior of the earth seems to have no sympathy with the external causes of heat or cold, and its heat appears to be its own. The average rate of observed increase is ldeg. F. for a descent of between forty and fifty feet. If this law were universal, which we do not know it to be, at a depth of less than thirty miles the heat would be such as to hold in fusion all known substances, and the earth would have to be regarded as a very thin crust or shell full of molten liquid and vapor.

This theory of great central heat, and a comparatively slight solid crust at the surface, has been practically endorsed by Humboldt and the French and German astronomers generally, and has obtained almost universal currency ; but Mr. Hopkins, the English astronomer, has lately subjected the theory to a series of very careful and elaborate tests, and his conclusion (accepted apparently by Sir Charles Lyell in the eleventh edition of his "Principles of Geology," page 205) is that " Upon the whole we may venture to assert that the minimum thickness of the crust of the globe which can be deemed consistent with the observed amount of procession, cannot be less than one-fourth or one-fifth of the earth's radius ; " that is, from 800 to 1,000 miles.

Land and Water. - The waters of the various oceans, seas, and lakes cover three-fourths of the surface of the earth, but they are very unequally distributed. The quantity of land in the northern hemisphere, for instance, is three times greater than in the southern. In the latter it occupies only -+- ,'6 of the space between the antarctic circle and the thirteenth parallel of south latitude. Between the corresponding parallels in the northern hemisphere, the extent of land and water is nearly equal. The Eastern Continent, embracing Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceanica, has a land area of about 24,000,000 square miles, and America 11,000,000. The dry land of the world occupies an area of 38,000,000 square miles.