and feeling both requiring,-like all other faculties of the mind, cultivation, I do say that both are more likely to be found with the cultivated few than with the uncultivated many; consequently, more among those who have studied and given attention to the subject, than among those who have not; and consequently, without any disrespect to the mass of the con gregation, I repeat, they ought to listen sometimes and learn, for it is a sad mistake to confound piety and devotion with coarseness and vulgarity, which is too often unwittingly done in what are considered "good congregational tunes." The worship of the heart is that which the Creator looks at, we all know—and which we should do well always to bear in mind whenever we sing, whether learnedly or unlearnedly; but the worship of the heart being the essential thing, it matters little whether the lips give utterance to it or not-therefore listening may be just as productive of feelings of devotion as singing can possibly be. As it is orderly, however, that every internal should have its corresponding external, it is highly desirable that the voice should be lifted up as well as the heart. Let every one sing who can—but (bearing in mind the remarks made on the subject in our June number) let all sing in the best possible manner.

E. F.

REMARKS ON MATTHEW x. 5, 6.

"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

THE following remarks were suggested to the mind of the writer, by observing the above verses quoted in a work entitled "An Inquiry concerning the Origin of Christianity." By Charles C. Hennell. Second edition.

It is far, far indeed, from my intention to waste time in any formal attempt to confute the crude, rash, inconclusive, gratuitous assertions of this professed inquirer into the origin of Christianity; the man who can impute such motives as he has done to the Saviour and his disciples,who can shut his eyes against the most direct and contrary statements of both,―statements borne out by the whole tenor of their lives in the face of the world, and yet pretend to legitimate criticism and calm inquiry, is prepared to prove that the splendour of the meridian sun in a cloudless sky is Egyptian darkness. Let him have the full benefit of

his theory, he can ask no more; and Christian charity ought to lead all his readers to pity the darkness of a poor blind man.

The verses in question being the words of the Lord Himself, addressed to the Twelve whom he chose for apostles, will be found, on close inspection, to contain much that is highly interesting and instructive, and in perfect harmony with the main scope of the New Testament history, which, taken as a whole, is only a history of the gradual development of the treasures of the Divine Wisdom and Knowledge, which were hidden in Him in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and who never, in one instance, uttered any thing but what was replete with spirit and life. "Never man spake like this man.” We do not shrink from looking fully in the face all the objections which can be brought to bear on this portion of Divine truth; on the contrary, we have no objection whatever to help out the objectors by noticing some apparent discrepancies that may not have occurred to them; for, were they tenfold more numerous than they are, they are, after all, apparent only, not real.

To mention only one or two, for they will sufficiently solve all that could be brought to bear on the subject. The great burden of prophecy intimated that the Messiah was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as to be the glory of the people of Israel; by, or through Him all the ends of the earth were to see the salvation of God; yet we find him declaring that he was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and, as in the passage before us, prohibiting his apostles, (who were to preach the glad tidings of salvation to every creature, from going in the way of the Gentiles, and from entering into any city of the Samaritans. But who may not see, from numerous other portions of the New Testament, that this restriction had reference only to the then present time? The commencement of this universal diffusion of the knowledge of the Lord was, for many important reasons, to take place at Jerusalem; nay, it was 66 necessary y" that the word of the Lord should be spoken to the Jews first; and hence the personal ministry of the Lord was confined to Judea; and hence also, though the apostles were to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth, they were commanded to remain in Jerusalem until they should be qualified for the execution of their commission.

Again, we find that when the Lord appointed seventy of his disciples, besides the apostles, to go forth and proclaim the approach of his Kingdom, he sent them out two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself would come. Now as the twelve apostles

were prohibited from going among the Gentiles, and from entering into any city of the Samaritans, we may reasonably conclude that the seventy disciples were placed under the same restriction, although no mention is made of it; that is, that they were to confine their labours to the circumcision, of whom their Lord and Master was peculiarly the minister for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. But here arises another apparent discrepancy; for if they, that is, the seventy, were to go into every place whither the Lord himself should afterwards come, they, some of them at least, must have visited the Samaritans, for it is well known that he himself, on his way to Galilee, came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, where he sat down on the brink of Jacob's well, and introduced the doctrines of his Kingdom to the people of Samaria in a conversation which he held with a woman who had come thither to draw water. We are not, however, told that any of the seventy entered into any city, or even into any village of the Samaritans, during the fulfilment of their mission; indeed, the probability is that they did not, and that for reasons which will presently appear. But neither here is there any real discrepancy; for, when the proper time arrived, the Gospel was preached by the disciples in the city of Samaria; was gladly received; and caused great joy in that city.

But feeling that it would be tedious and unnecessary to multiply illustrations of this one point, we pass on at once to meet the question— Why did the Lord so explicitly restrict his apostles from going in the way of the Gentiles, and from entering into any city of the Samaritans ? Whatever might be the cause of this prohibition, certain it is that it existed not in the all-merciful mind of the Redeemer, and, therefore, it must be sought for in the character of the apostles themselves, or perhaps, more properly speaking, in their character and also in that of the Gentiles at large, but in that of the Samaritans in particular. It is scarcely necessary to mention, that between the Jews and the Samaritans there existed a long-standing and deeply-rooted enmity, the ground of which may be seen by consulting 1 Kings xvi. and 2 Kings xvii. So strong, indeed, was this feeling, that we are told the Jews had no friendly intercourse with the Samaritaus;* nay, indeed, in the estimation of the Jews, to be a Samaritan was equivalent to having a devil and being mad (John viii. 48). How unfit, then, were the twelve apostles and the

* The term σvyxpwvraι (John iv. 9) is most unhappily rendered “ dealings," in the commonly received version; for at the very time that the woman of Samaria used it, the disciples were gone into the city to buy food, see verse 8. From this circumstance alone, it is clear that the Jews and Samaritans had commercial dealings with each other.

seventy other preachers, all Jews, for carrying, at that time, the great doctrines of the Gospel to the Gentiles, and especially to the Samaritans!

We can easily conceive what a terrible collision must have resulted from the contact of so much inveterate prejudice, bigotry, and exclusiveness. The matter, however, is not left to be filled up by the imagination; we are furnished with demonstration.

Thus when the Lord, on his way to Jerusalem, sent messengers before his face, we are told that they entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him, but that the Samaritans would not receive him, because they perceived that he was intent on proceeding to Jerusalem. This act of insult offered to their Master roused the feeling of the Jew in the breast of the disciples James and John, to such a pitch, that they requested permission of him to command fire from heaven to consume the Samaritan villagers, ignorantly supposing that the case of Elias furnished them with a precedent for destroying men's lives; for this the Lord rebuked them, reminding them at the same time that they knew not of what manner of spirit they were. Here we have a most striking proof of the ignorance of the disciples as to the real nature of the kingdom of God; and to this we may add, that such ignorance and national prejudice remained with them even after they were fully satisfied as to the fact of the Lord's resurrection from the dead. Indeed, so "thoughtless, and so dull of understanding," were they (Luke xxiv. 25), that even after the Lord had opened their understandings, doubtless to no small extent, by expounding to them "in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself;" nay, after he had spent forty days with them speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, when they were come together with him for the last time on earth, "they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts i. 6.)

It may be, and we believe has been urged, why could not the Lord have at once qualified his apostles for the important work for which he chose them? To talk, as many do, about what the Lord could do—what he might have done if he would-what he was under no obligation to do, and what he may possibly do if men provoke him to do it, if not absolutely profane, argues great ignorance of the invariable method of the Divine procedure, which is, and ever must be, in perfect accordance with order. The Lord taught his disciples as they were able to bear it. (John xvi. 12.) He spoke to them in parables, until the time came when it was proper to shew them plainly of the Father; but did he not most distinctly inform them that this could not, according to the order of infinite wisdom, be until he was fully glorified? When this took place,

when the "HOLY SPIRIT WAS," and was sent to guide them into all the truth, they saw plainly that every step by which their divine Master had led them, was, as Paul expresses it, his abounding toward them in all wisdom and prudence, while gradually unfolding to them the mystery of his will, and qualifying them to act as his agents in gathering together in one all things in Christ, even in him.

Enough, however, has been said to shew why, when the disciples were first sent out, they were prohibited from going in the way of the Gentiles, and from entering into any city of the Samaritans; and we trust it may also be clearly seen from the foregoing remarks, that so far from the Lord's prohibition wearing anything like the aspect of exclusiveness towards the Gentiles at large, or the Samaritans in particular, the whole was a most merciful provision made by infinite wisdom for the purpose of most efficiently making known to them the unsearchable riches of Christ; so far was it from being a taking away from them the key of knowledge, that it was evidently done for the sake of affording a suitable opportunity to Him who has the key of David, of opening the door of faith to the Gentiles, by granting them repentance unto life; of setting before them an open door which none should ever be able to shut; of throwing open before them the gates of heaven, which should remain open continually, and not be shut day nor night. And how strikingly do we see all this verified in the interesting discourse of the Lord with the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob, as related by the apostle John; a discourse in which the true nature of Divine worship is most sublimely laid open, and which was followed by the most salutary results. With these particulars before us, what a depth of meaning there appears in the Lord's reply to the question of the disciples"My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." (John iv. 34.)

It was my intention to incorporate with the above remarks some observations illustrative of the character of the Samaritans as a people; but I have already trespassed on your room, and, I fear, on the patience of the reader, and shall therefore conclude by observing that I am of opinion that ample justice has not been done to them by historians. Our information respecting them comes to us chiefly through their enemies the Jews, and must therefore be considered as being very much exaggerated and one-sided. Certain it is that, with all their faults, they were much better disposed than the Jews were, at least in the days of our Lord on earth, to the practice of genuine charity. This the Lord himself plainly teaches us in the beautiful parable of the "Good Samaritan," as it is commonly called; and in the account given by Luke of