actual use of the word in the New Testament. This, we admit, is appealing to an authority higher than the lexicons themselves, to the witness on whose testimony the lexicons have given their verdict. As to the result of doing so Dr. H. says,

"The reader of the Syriac New Testament has only to consult the passages in which baptism is spoken of, and he will find that this ancient and venerable version, so far from yielding any support to the hypothesis that immersion of the body in water is the mode in which John and our Lord's disciples performed that rite, goes, on the contrary, to establish the opinion that it was performed by the application of water to the body in a standing posture, such as we find in the ancient representations."

In putting the question to the test, we will use the meaning Dr. H. suggests; but first it must be noticed, that instead of understanding amad of baptism, he speaks as if it were used for an act preparatory to baptism. This is a mistake; amad is used for baptism itself, and not for any thing which comes before or goes after it; and if, like its cognate amad in Hebrew, it signifies to stand up, to stand erect, baptism, according to the Syriac, is nothing else than STANDING ERECT, and a file of soldiers are baptized as often as they are taken to drill. This does away with water altogether, and might in some cases be a great convenience. Thus we shall read in the Syriac (Matt. iii. 1), “ In those days came John," who made people stand upright." The reader will be so kind as to forgive the periphrasis. In Matt. iii. 6, the rendering will be, "Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and were standing upright by him in the river Jordan." I do not know whether to render by him or from him, but neither rendering gives a clear meaning.

It does not appear why he made them stand upright in the river. If this was a part of the ordinance, it certainly is not observed by our Independent brethren, neither is it said how long all the people stood there, but charity would lead us to suppose that they did not stand there long. Indeed we may infer so much from the 16th verse; for there, according to Dr. H., we read." When Jesus stood upright immediately he ascended from the water." In Mark vii. 8, we read, "For all the Jews and the Pharisees, unless they wash their hands carefully, eat not ;" and, in the next verse, And, on coming from the market, unless they stand upright, they eat not, and

there are many other things which they have received to keep, the making to stand upright cups, pitchers, and brazen vessels, and beds."

It is not at all uncommon for other people, besides the Jews, to set cups and pots upon their base; and as to beds, the word used is the same as that used in Matt. ix. 6, where our Lord commands a man to take up his bed and go to his house. The beds of the east are generally a kind of thin mattress of quilted cotton, or only a skin, which can easily be wrapped up and carried under the arm. It would be easy to dip such a bed, but not very easy to make it stand upright; besides that, this meaning has nothing to do with the connexion.

In John v. 37, Dr. Henderson would have us read, "the standing-up-place of Bethesda ;" and John ix. 7, "the standing-up-place of Siloam," instead of the dipping places or baths of Bethesda and Siloam. And in Rom. vi. 3, "Know ye not that they who stand up in Christ Jesus, stand up into his death, for we are buried with him by being made to stand upright into death."

In burying, it has not been the custom of any nation, that we know of, to make the dead stand upright. These passages afford a sufficient test of the accuracy of the meaning assigned by Dr. Henderson to the Syriac amad; our readers can judge for themselves. If Dr. H.'s meaning is thought inappropriate, it is easy to substitute the sense of “being dipped or immersed" for "standing upright" and of “dipping or immersing" for "making to stand upright;" and there are few, we think, who will not conclude that the sense given by the lexicographers is the true sense.

There is one other argument of Dr. Henderson's in favour of the meaning he assigns, which he thinks conclusive.

“What in my judgment (he says) besides the point as it regards the Syriac, is the fact that in Matt. xxvi. 23, Mark xiv. 20, Luke xvi. 24, and John xiii. 26, where a word signifying dip is required, the verb employed is not amad, the word uniformly used in reference to baptism, but tsaba, which signifies to sink, dip, or put into water, or any other element for the purpose of wetting."

Mr. Greenfield had mentioned this word in a note. He says,

There is another Syriac word for baptism which is employed by the Syrian Baptists, and which I long since proved, in opposition to the statement of the late editor of Calmet, also meant to dip.

Tsaba, then, which Dr. H. admits means to dip, though never used for baptism in scripture, is used by the Syrians at the present day for the ordinance, and proves that amad has, in their view, a nearly synonymous meaning. Dr. H.'s argugument supposes that no language possesses two words of nearly the same sense, and that if dip means dip, immerse must of necessity mean something else. Our friend, before alluded to, has furnished us with the following remarks on the apparent reason for the invariable use of amad for baptism, and the rejection of tsaba.

"It is concluded that amad is absent from these four passages on account of its being too weak, whereas investigation will show that the said word is too strong; for amad is not a proper word to express dipping, when the dipped object is so connected with the hand as to render partial immersion the probable result. Tsaba, which means he wetted, is used both in the Peshito and Philoxenian Syriac for the woman's wETTING the Saviour's feet with tears, as expressed both in the 38th and 44th verses of the seventh of Luke."

The four passages quoted by Dr. Henderson, besides others which might be mentioned in the New Testament, all sanc. tion this opinion. Matt. xxvi. 23, and Mark xiv. 20, speak of Judas as he who dipped his hand with our Lord in the dish. Luke xvi. 24, is the request of the rich man that Lazarus may be sent to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue; and in John xiii. 26, our Lord speaks of the betrayer as "He to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it." But even if tsaba implied total immersion, it could prove nothing as to the meaning of amad, unless it can be proved that no two words in the same language can possibly have a nearly synonymous meaning. It might, with equal propriety, be argued that baptism in Greek cannot mean dip, because bapto has that meaning. Such arguments only show the weakness of the position they were intended to defend.

Dr. Henderson informs us that the Philoxenian Syriac version, (so called from Philoxenus, bishop of Hierapolis, in Syria, A. D. 488-518, who employed his rural bishop Polycarp to translate the Greek New Testament into Syriac), renders baptizo by the same word, amad.

We have, therefore, satisfactory evidence that Mr. Greenfield was right in appealing to the Peshito Syriac as sanctioning the rendering of the Baptist translators, and that the Philoxenian Syriac does so too.

Les Jumelles; or The Twins. 3rd edition. Pp. 139. Barfield, Wardour Street, Soho.

THE facts recorded-for they are not fictions-in the pages of this small neat volume, possess no ordinary interest, and might easily have been wrought into an extended and elaborate performance. But as the chief design appears to have been to supply and preserve vivid recollections of a series of remarkable or extraordinary incidents, the work before us is fully adequate to accomplish that object, and the perusal will, we doubt not, be highly gratifying to very many, as well as to those principally interested in the narrative.

A Plea for Prayer Meetings, with Counsels to the Prayerful and Prayerless. By John Cox. Pp. 30. Nisbet. THE subject of these pages is one of great importance to the interests of the church generally, and is treated, in this tract, with so much force and seriousness, that we would earnestly recommend it to universal attention; while we have much pleasure in adding that its price-twopence-is so small, that no one need be without it.

INTELLIGENCE.

BIBLE TRANSLATION SOCIETY.

ON Monday, December 9, a public meeting was held at Eagle Street Chapel, Red Lion Square, to form an auxiliary, in connexion with the church and congregation assembling there, to the above society.

The chair was occupied by Mr. Overbury, minister of the place.

The following resolutions were passed. Moved by Dr. Cox, of Hackney; seconded by brother W. F.Poile, of Keppel Street: I. That, understanding the Bible Translation Society to be based upon the principle of encouraging the production and circulation both at home and abroad, of complete translations of the Holy Scriptures, competently authenticated for fidelity, a society be now formed in connexion with this church and congregation, to be denominated The Eagle Street Auxiliary

to the Bible Translation Society."

Moved by brother C. Stovell, of Prescot Street; seconded by brother Joseph Davis, of Church Street:

II. That the following be the Rules of the Eagle Street Auxiliary

1. That the Society be called the Eagle Street Auxiliary to the Bible Translation Society.

2. That the object of this Auxiliary be to aid the Bible Translation Society in the encouragement of the production and circulation, both at home and abroad, of complete translations of the Holy Scriptures, competently authenticated for fidelity.

13. That every person subscribing one penny per week, or collecting ten shillings annually, be a member of this society, &c. III. Moved by brother Peacock, of Spencer Place Chapel; seconded by brother John Edwards, from Canada :

That the following be the committee and officers for the ensuing year.

[N.B. A further account of this meeting may be expected in our next.-ED.]

:

October 19, 1840.-A second Baptist Church was formed at Leighton-Buzzard, consisting of fifty-five members; and, on the 29th of the same month, the public recognition of their union took place on which occasion the Rev. W. Wood, of Toddington, read the scriptures, and prayed; Rev. J. Statham, of Reading, described the nature and duties of a christian church; Rev. B. Godwin, of Oxford, gave to each of the members the right hand of fellowship; and Rev. P. Tyler, of Haddenham, addressed the meeting, and concluded with prayer.

Rev. B. Godwin, preached in the evening. The hymns were read by Mr. Cooper, who is at present supplying the pulpit.

The greater part of the persons of whom this church is now composed were originally members of the church in Lake Street, when under the pastoral care of Rev. Thomas Wake, but have for several years worshipped in another part of the town. Many of them remember, with deep regret, when the church in Lake Street became open in its communion, and look upon that day as the beginning of sorrows. It is scarcely needful to add that the new church is strict.