"Morning dawned at last upon the towers and temple columns of the holy city. On the gold-sheeted roofs and snowy-pillared colonades of the house of God the sunlight poured with a splendor hardly more glorious than the insupportable brilliancy that was sent back from their dazzling surfaces, streaming like a new morning upon the objects around, whose nearer sides would otherwise have been left in shade by the eastern rays. Castle Antonia shared in this general illumination, and at the first blaze of sunrise the order of Roman service announced the moment for relieving guard. The bustle of the movement of the new sentries toward their stands must at last have reached the ears of Peter's forsaken companions. Their first waking thoughts would, of course, be on their responsible charge, and they now became, for the first time, aware of the important deficiency. But they had not much time to consider their misfortune, or condole upon it; for the change of sentries now brought to the door the quaternion whose turn on duty came next. Most uncomfortable must have been the aspect of things to the two sentinels who had been keeping their steady watch outside of the door, and who shared, equally with the inside keepers, in the undesirable responsibilities of this accident," &c.-Pp. 223, 224. Such extravagant diction might be tolerated in a writer of novels or fictitious tales; but no rule of correct criticism will justify it here, where truth and integrity are required in every particular. The beautiful picture of a brilliant and sunny morning bursting upon the golden city at that eventful period, so vividly drawn by the writer, is indeed well calculated to enliven the story and ravish the feelings of gay and undevout readers. But is there any truth in it? What evidence is there that a darker morning ever shrouded the domes and towers of the devoted city than that identical one which the author's fancy has painted in such lively colors? How much more impressive and sublime is the simple statement of the inspired historian, "There was no small stir among the soldiers to know what was become of Peter," than all this pompous display of wordy fiction! We cannot forbear here to caution the readers of the volume in question against imbibing incorrect views respecting the apostles, and some important incidents connected with their lives, by admitting into their minds the imaginary descriptions of the author in the place of well attested truth. Take for example his notice of the transfiguration. The record of this occurrence occupies only a few short verses in the Scriptures. Our author contrives to fill a number of pages in amplifying upon it, without adding either instruction or interest. St. Luke says, Christ and his disciples went up into the mountain to pray. The fancy of our author prepares them for the sublime manifestation of the divine glory they are thus permitted to witness, by a very different influence than that which is produced by prayer. Hear him. "Their most holy historical associations were connected with the tops of high mountains, removed from which the most awful scenes of ancient miracle would, to the fancy of the dweller of mountainous Palestine, have seemed stripped of their most imposing aids. Moriah, Sinai, Horeb, Ebal, Gerizim, Zion, and Tabor, were the classic ground of Hebrew history; and to the fiery mind of the imaginative Israelite their high tops seemed to tower in a religious sublimity, as striking and as lasting as their physical elevation. From these lofty peaks, so much nearer to the dwelling-place of God, his soul took a higher flight than did ever the fancy of the Greek from the classic tops of Parnassus, Ida, 'Old Pelion, or the skyish head of blue Olympus;' and the three humble gazers, who now stood waiting there with their divine Master, felt, no doubt, their devotion proportionably exalted with their situation, by such associations. It was the same spirit that, throughout the ancient world, led the earliest religionists to avail themselves of these physical advantages, as they did in their mountain worship, and with a success just in proportion as the purity and sincerity of their worship, and the high character of its object, corresponded with the lofty grandeur of the place. 'Not vainly did the early Persian make Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer.'"-P. 88 Thus are we taught by a Protestant Christian author that the adorable Saviour, to prepare his chosen disciples to witness the most magnificent display of his glory he ever deigned to exhibit to mortals in the body, of set purpose beguiled their imagination by scenes of grandeur, calculated to produce the same lofty emotions of sublimity and awe in the feelings of the deist, the heathen idolator, and the mere sentimentalist professing the Christian faith! That such emotions are often mistaken for true piety, and substituted for the spirit of devotion, we have little reason to doubt. They are excited not only by the romantic grandeur of "eartho'er-gazing mountains"—the high places of idolatry-but also by the sombre aspect of the stately Gothic cathedral, and the grave tones of the majestic organ, aids to devotion which are sought only in the absence of the spirit of it. It was by that abstractedness of the thoughts from the world, and deep devotion of heart before God, which continuous and ardent prayer produces, and not by dazzling the imagination with external grandeur, that the Saviour prepared the disciples for the manifestation of his glory which he was about to make to them. What sober-minded Christian doubts this? Who, therefore, that is accustomed to employ the unimpassioned faculties of judgment and reason in expounding the Scriptures, will admit the following poetic effusion as a just interpretation of the sacred text? "In short, they [the three disciples] fell asleep; and that, too, as it would appear, in the midst of the prayers and counsels of their adorable Lord. *** In such a state [asleep through weariness] were the bodies of the companions of Jesus; and thus wearied, they slept long, in spite of the storm, which is supposed by many to have arisen, and to have been the immediate cause of some of the striking appearances which followed. It is said, by many standard commentators, that the fairest account of such of the incidents as are connected with natural objects, is, that a tremendous thunder storm came down upon the mountain while they were asleep, and that a loud peal bursting from this was the immediate cause of their awaking. All the details that are given certainly justify the supposition. They are described as suddenly starting from their sleep, in such a manner as would naturally follow only from a loud noise violently arousing the slumbering senses. Awakened thus by a peal of thunder, the first sight that struck their amazed eyes was their Master, resplendent through the darkness of night and storm with a brilliant light, that so shone upon him, and covered him, as to change his whole aspect to a degree of glory indescribable. "To add to their amazement and dread, they saw that he was not alone, but two mysterious and spiritual personages, announced to them as Moses and Elijah, were now his companions, having found means to join him, though high on the mighty rock, alone and in darkness, so inaccessible to human approach. These two ancient servants of God now appeared with his beloved Son, whose labors, and doctrines, and triumphs were so far to transcend theirs; and in the hearing of the three apostles uttered solemn words of prophecy about his approaching death, and triumph over death. The two sons of Zebedee were so startled as to be speechless; but the boldness and talkativeness of Peter, always so pre-eminent, enabled him, even here, to speak his deep awe and reverence. Yet confused with half-awakened sleep, and stunned by the bursting thunder, he spoke as a man thus suddenly awaked naturally speaks, scarcely separating the thoughts of his dream from the objects that met his opening eye, he said, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here; and if thou wilt, let us make three tabernacles, (or resting places,) one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.' These things he said before his confused thoughts could fully arrange themselves into words proper to express his feelings of awe; and he, half dreaming still, hardly knew what he said. But as he uttered these words, the dark cloud above them suddenly descended upon the mountain's head, enwrapping and overshadowing them; and amid the flash of lightnings and the roar of thunders, given out in the concussion, they distinguished, in no human voice, these awful words, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.' Who can wonder that a phenomenon so tremendous, both morally and physically, overwhelmed their senses; and that, alarmed beyond measure, they fell again on their faces to the earth; so astonished, that they did not dare to rise or look up, until Jesus came to them, and reassured them with his friendly touch, saying, 'Arise, and be not afraid.' And lifting up their eyes, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only, with themselves."-Pp. 91, 92. Add to the physical agents here employed by the author only a few more, which his inventive imagination might easily supply, and the naturally skeptical reader might be left to doubt whether the whole could not be resolved into an illusion practiced upon the senses of the half-sleeping, half-dreaming, terrified apostles, artfully decoyed into a dark mountain on the approach of a storm, and there detained, witnessing the prayers and listening to the discourses of their Master, until the excitement of their feelings, occasioned by the solemn grandeur of the scene, had subsided, and they sunk with the words they heard gradually dying upon their ears, and the imaginations of their thoughts turning into dreams, at the happy juncture, when the approaching tempest was about to burst upon their heads, to rouse them by its tremendous peals to witness, amid the flashes of the lightnings, the wonderful phenomena, in a state of mind least of all qualifying them to judge of the reality of the things they saw and heard! Such an interpretation might satisfy a German neologist or semi-deist; but a devout and well instructed Christian cannot peruse it without feelings of disgust at the fictitious assumptions of the imaginative author, calculated only to obscure the glory and depreciate the moral lustre of that sublime and most interesting miracle, of which he presumes to treat without understanding its true character or design. Three out of the four evangelists record this wonderful transaction without any material difference. Neither of them say any thing about its transpiring in the night, or being attended by a tempest, or the apostles being suddenly awaked from a long and profound sleep. The narratives are exceedingly simple, and contain few incidents. And every thing recorded by the inspired historians bears clear evidence of supernatural agency. That it was or was not in the night we have no means positively to decide. This, however, is a circumstance of little importance. That the disciples "fell asleep," "slept long," and were roused from this deep and long sleep by loud peals of thunder bursting forth from a cloud hanging over the mountain, we have no reason, from any thing contained in the sacred text, even to conjecture. One of the evangelists (Luke) says, indeed, "Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep." At what period of the transaction they were in this state, or what was the cause or the precise nature of it, does not clearly appear. That the transfiguration took place "before the disciples," and in a way to be testified to by them, and that Moses and Elias "appeared unto them" immediately succeeding the Saviour's praying, and without the intervention of any other material circumstance, all the narratives plainly show. Without supposing that the disciples were literally asleep, the Biblical student will find a satisfactory elucidation of the circumstance mentioned by Luke, and by him only, in Dan. viii, 18, and x, 9. The events that are there recorded respecting the prophet are so similar to those here stated respecting the apostles, that it seems quite natural to conclude the evangelist had his eye upon them, and employed the language they suggested in describing the state of feeling experienced by "Peter and those that were with him," during this extraordinary manifestation of the divine presence and glory. Daniel, to be sure, calls it a deep sleep. But it was not a natural sleep. "Yet heard I," said he, "the voice of his words; and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands,” Dan. x, 9. It was a state analogous to sleep, in that the mind was wholly abstracted from the world; and on that account denominated, by a strong figure, "a deep sleep." But unlike natural sleep, in which all the faculties are temporarily suspended, so that nothing is perceived clearly or correctly, this being produced by an overwhelming sense of the divine presence, peculiarly qualified the prophet for a clearer perception of the divine manifestations. In this case it was experienced in its highest degree. And is there not reason to suppose that the same was intended, though in a lower degree, by what Luke says of the disciples? "And as he prayed," says the sacred historian, "the fashion |