Remarks on Mount Serbal being the true Mount Sinai,' &c. &c., by John Hogg, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. &c. In the year 1845, the learned Professor Lepsius, during an excursion to Mount Sinai, applied himself to the investigation of its historical geography with a boldness of criticism far surpassing all his predecessors in the same field. The result was, that he completely revolutionized all received theories based on the venerable traditions of the Peninsula. Dr. Robinson had been content to remove the Mountain of the Law only about two miles, i.e. from Gebel Mûsa to Ras-esSufsafeh, the northern extremity of the ridge of which Gebel Mûsa is the extreme south. Professor Lepsius proposes Gebel Serbal for the Mountain of the Law, the principal and loftiest of another range of mountains, situated about twenty-five miles north-west of Gebel Mûsa. Mr. Hogg, in advocating this theory, applies a corrective to the free Neological comments of Professor Lepsius, which they much needed. The writer has evidently brought some learning to the investigation, and devoted much laborious and patient research to the elucidation of his subject. At present, however, we are not convinced, and cannot therefore abandon our old belief in favour of the new hypothesis; for, while we discover in the pages of Professor Lepsius and Mr. Hogg much of arbitrary interpretation, unfounded assumption, illogical and inconclusive reasoning, with some few plausible arguments, we find but two that appear to have any real weight; viz.-1st, that the encampment of the Israelites at Rephidim, supposed to be situated near Pharan, seems to be identified with Horeb and the Mount of God, (in Exod. xvii. 1—6; xviii. 5;) and 2dly, that Cosmas Indopleustes, who was well acquainted with the whole region and its traditions, places Mount Horeb about six miles from Pharan—a description which precisely answers to Mount Serbal, but not at all to Gebel Mûsa; for the site of Pharan is determined, beyond all question, at the northern base of Gebel Serbal, where its ruins and its name still exist.

But against this direct testimony on behalf of Professor Lepsius and Mr. Hogg must be placed the following facts, of which neither of them have given any satisfactory explanation:-1st. That if Rephidim be placed at or near Pharan, then it is certain that the encampment before the Mount,' was remote one station from it, and this station may well have been distant twenty-five miles or more from Rephidim; for the Israelites traversed 'the Desert of Sinai,' between Rephidim and their next station, (Exod. xix. 1, 2.) But twenty-five miles would bring them to Gebel Mûsa. To suppose, with Professor Lepsius, that they were throughout encamped among the fruitful gardens of the well-watered Wady Pharan is to run clean counter to the Sacred Narrative, which he is well satisfied to do, in order to escape the miraculous part of it; and to render Valley of Sinai,' instead of Wilderness of Sinai,' in the passage last cited, is merely to do violence to the language, in order to support a preconceived opinion. 2dly. It is granted by Professor Lepsius and Mr. Hogg, that the existing Convent at the base of Horeb was erected by Justinian, not more than twenty years after Cosmas had visited and described the region of Mount Sinai, and that the present Gebel Mûsa was then, and has ever since been regarded as the true Mountain of the Law. Now, it is equally inconceivable that the traditionary mountain could have been so far forgotten as to be inadvertently shifted from Serbal to Gebel Mûsa in twenty years,

and that the Christians would knowingly have consented to transfer their veneration from the then received mountain to a supposititious one. And these improbabilities are much increased by the well-authenticated fact, that the rocky sides of the true Sinai, wherever it was, had been already for centuries pierced with monastic caves, inhabited by anchorites.

But it would be impossible to do justice to this large and interesting subject in this place. What has been here said may suffice to prove that sufficient reason has not yet been shown for abandoning the established tradition.

'Deeds of Faith,' by the Rev. J. M. Neale. (Mozleys.) In the prevailing mode of writing for children, where the merit lies in narrating homely incidents, every-day trials, and temptations in a purely natural style, befitting the simplicity of the subject, it is well to have sometimes the variety of an elevated theme, told in suitably elevated and poetical language. Mr. Neale's books for children are especially valuable in supplying this want. 'Deeds of Faith,' written with the same view as 'Triumphs of the Cross,' are narratives and legends from Church history, told with an earnestness and warmth of feeling which must interest young and old. The authorities of the different stories are given in the preface, and the legends distinguished from more authentic history,-a distinction which it will be necessary to enforce upon the youthful reader, lest he take allegory for fact.

Sister's Care,' by the author of Michael the Chorister, (Masters,) is a simple little story, written with the same taste and feeling, and the same poetical view of childhood that have made its predecessor so deservedly popular. The children do not talk naturally exactly, but what they say is so pretty, and expresses so properly what good children among the poor ought to say, if they only could cast aside shyness and reserve, and say it, that it does almost as well as strict nature while we read.

'An Earnest Remonstrance addressed to Subscribers of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the Religious Tract Society,' has adopted the very short and expressive motto-Thou shalt not kill.' It is needless for us here to repeat the facts which have already made such an impression on the public, connected with the oppressively low wages which these Societies pay their sewers and binders. That the conductors of these Societies at all realize the cruelties which their system inflicts, we are unwilling to believe. At the same time, there is such a thing as culpable blindness; and persons who either shut their eyes to, or are simply forgetful of such results as these, show that they are pursuing a religious object in much the same spirit in which the societies of the world pursue their worldly ones. That wish to compass an end, which begets an indifference to the means, be the end what it may, terrene or spiritual, is a worldly one.

'Religious Teachings,' by Mr. Highton, of Rugby School, has already produced very grave charges, and a very defective defence. Mr. Highton's teaching, on one very important doctrine, may be judged of from one very short extract. 'Are there then no peculiar blessings attached to the Lord's Supper, which are not attached to other times, and other acts of 'faith in God?' he asks: and he answers: No: there are none.' This is quite clear and distinct:-The total denial of all peculiar grace to the

Sacrament of the Lord's Supper! We may safely leave the awful presumption of this assertion, to the Christian reverence and Christian belief of the members of our Church at large to remark upon as we do the additional question, how Mr. Highton teaches this doctrine within the English Church, to Mr. Highton himself and to his ecclesiastical superiors to explain.

A very well-argued Sermon on The Inspiration of Holy Scripture, considered in reference to Objections,' by the Rev. Henry Harris, M.A., Demy of Magdalen College, shows the sad fact of a tendency to question that truth having arisen in some quarters. It is satisfactory to see that the Church has always good reasoners, which it only requires such symptoms to elicit.

The New Testament Expounded and Illustrated according to the usual Marginal References, in the very words of Holy Scripture; together with 'the Notes and Translations, and a complete Marginal Harmony of the Gospels. Part I. containing the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apo'stles,' by Clement Moody, M.A. (Longman.) The design of this work is to give the reader of the Bible the benefit of the marginal references without the trouble of turning over the pages to find the passages referred to. The latter are set down at the bottom of the page. Mr. Moody's book is thus a Scripture commentary upon Scripture. The principles on which he has gone in determining how much to extract of the passages referred to are stated in the Preface, and appear to show judgment.

The author of 'Short Conclusions from the Light of Nature,' (Rivingtons,) has a real taste for speculative philosophy, but he wants the power of sustaining and properly evolving his thoughts, and is apt to be offhand. It is no answer to Bishop Berkeley's theory about matter that there must be 'something external to persons' minds' to produce the uniformity which there is in their material impressions, (e.g. make many persons see the same thing at the same time); for Berkeley agrees with him in saying so, only making that external thing the Supreme Spirit, instead of that material substratum which established philosophy supposes. We must caution the author against some fanciful and some dangerous lines of thought into which he enters.

'A Selection from Percy's Reliques,' (Bell,) has been made by the Rev. Henry Tripp, M.A., Fellow of Worcester College, with good taste and judgment.

The writer of Facts and Thoughts for the Additional Curates' Aid Society in connexion with the Diocese of Manchester,' (Hatchard,) appears to find the conduct of the Bishop of Manchester difficult to defend, and goes from his subject to commence a general attack on Church Unions. His ecclesiastical system, if he stated it clearly, would be a simple one; viz. that all Clergymen should obey their Bishops, and all Bishops obey Lord John Russell. Which power such a policy would advance, the Episcopal or the Secular, may be conjectured.

It is with unfeigned satisfaction that we correct a mis-statement in our last number, concerning the weekly celebration of the Holy Eucharist. It appears that the Holy Communion is administered every Sunday in the

following Cathedrals:-Canterbury, York, S. Paul's, Chichester, Durham, Winchester, Exeter, Salisbury, Lichfield, Worcester, Manchester, and the royal Abbey of Westminster. The error may perhaps be somewhat palliated by the consideration that, in several instances, the restoration of this pious practice is very recent, and in the great majority does not date back more than a few years. We sincerely wish that other statements in that article, unfavourable to the Cathedral authorities, could have been here retracted; for it were far more pleasant to retract than it was to make them but amid much plausible defence of existing abuses, in quarters from which we did not expect it, we have found nothing that calls for serious comment. With regard to our respected correspondent at Chichester, we beg to say, that our statements concerning that Cathedral were made on what we considered unexceptionable authority; and we can only reconcile them with the counter statements by the supposition that the arrangements may have been altered subsequently to our inquiries. May we be permitted to add, that if any large proportion of our Cathedral authorities were at all conformed to a type that Chichester could furnish, the term 'dignitary' could never have become a bye-word, and such articles as appeared in our pages and in another Church Review last quarter would never have been called forth. We extremely regret that our remarks should have appeared unduly harsh and unnecessarily severe to some whose judgment we highly value; and we own it may be impossible for those who view these institutions entirely ab extra, to comprehend all the complicated difficulties that embarrass and defeat the exertions of those who would reform them ab intra. Certainly nothing was further from our intentions than to add to the perplexities and distresses of those worthy members of the Cathedral bodies who are endeavouring, sometimes amidst much obloquy and opposition, to restore them to their intended uses, and to develop their means of efficiency; and we sincerely beg them to pardon us if our strictures have occasioned them the slightest pain.

The case of the Rochester Cathedral Grammar School has gained additional notoriety during the last three months, nor is there any prospect of its speedy adjustment. Mr. Whiston has published his 'Protest or Demurrer,' read before the Dean and Chapter on the 14th of September, (Ollivier,) and has been engaged in a lively newspaper controversy with the Presbyter' of the British Magazine,' in which, if Mr. Whiston is superior in point of argument, his opponent has the advantage of him in temper and other qualities that are specially becoming in clerical disputants. We sincerely hope that Mr. Whiston will not mar or defeat a really good cause by any fresh exhibitions of violence, which have already injured him much in the estimation of wise and good men. Meanwhile the Dean and Chapter have proceeded to extremities, and have again dismissed their refractory HeadMaster, appointed a successor, and attempted to justify their rigorous proceeding in a Letter to the Bishop of Rochester,' conceived precisely in the same terms as the former letter of the Chapter-Clerk, (commented on in our last number,) conceding, as in that, the only point that any reasonable person would contend for, viz. that though legally they are not morally and religiously' they are 'Trustees of Institutions,' and for the following purposes:- For the maintenance of the

Trustees at all,' yet

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'Cathedral, its services and sermons; of its Ministers, therefore, and Choir, and of the Cathedral School; for duties of hospitality and offices of charity; for religious instruction and education, the encouragement of 'piety and learning.' But while granting that their own and kindred bodies have no doubt been founded and incorporated' for these ends, they have failed to show-they have not even attempted to show-that they have promoted these objects in any adequate measure. In other words, they have not answered Mr. Whiston's charges, but have simply dismissed him. This he contends they have no right to do under the Statutes, and has accordingly, while continuing to exercise the functions of Head-Master, obtained from the Court of Queen's Bench a rule for a mandamus to restore. The very able argument of Sir Frederick Thesiger in moving for a rule has not improved the position of the Chapter. It now remains to be seen whether the rule will be made absolute.

Three cognate bodies-the Ecclesiological, the Oxford, and the Bristol Architectural Societies-have put forth Reports during the last quarter. The first Society shows a good balance in the hands of its treasurer, while both the others seem to be financially embarrassed, though the Oxford Architectural Society, we are glad to see, has considerably diminished during the past year the balance due to its treasurer. It is the expense of printing and publishing, we conceive, which has hampered the means of many of these Societies. Why cannot they learn that union is strength, and that as we have before advised them-they would much further the cause which they have at heart by centralization? We think we see hopeful signs of such a result in a passage of the Oxford Society's Annual Report, (p. 92,) where the Committee announce that they have lately made arrangements with the editors of the Ecclesiologist, whereby, through their kindness, it is hoped that more of our papers may appear in that periodical.' The three Reports before us number, in the lists of members, at a rough calculation, about fourteen hundred names. Taking into consideration the other Societies in various dioceses, there may be concluded to be considerably more than two thousand persons in the country pledged to the study and support of Church Architecture. What might not be hoped for if the exertions of so many persons were directed by a common management, and their contributions employed, not in the publication of works of local value and interest, but in the propagation of their principles by means of a well-supported and effective periodical organ? Still it is gratifying to observe, from the record of the transactions of the three Societies of which we have been speaking, that a good deal of work seems to be doing, in one way or other.

One of the papers read before the Oxford Society is published in a separate pamphlet, under the title of 'Remarks on the Nomenclature of Gothic Architecture, by E. A. Freeman, M.A.' (Parker.) The writer, of course, defends his own division of the Pointed styles, and his own nomenclature, against all comers; and besides this, he labours to support Rickman's system, as being the less bad of the two, in preference to that of the Ecclesiological Society. We have in a late number expressed our own opinion on this dispute, nor does the present brochure incline us to change our mind. One remark, however, may be made: Mr. Freeman appears to