ler's field. Isaiah vii. 3. The stream was afterwards brought into two pools, the one called the upper pool, for the use of the royal family; the other the lower pool," for the use of the citizens of Jerusalem. The former was one of the splendid works of Solomon, formed in the south west boundary of mount Zion, where it begins to turn towards the east. From the upper pool, little streams were conducted into the king's garden, Neh. iii. 15.—Of the lower pool mention is made, in Isa. xxii. 9, "And ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many; and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool." This lower pool" is in v. 11, distinguished from "the old pool," that is, "the upper pool."-In Nehemiah's account of the repairing of the wall, ch. iii. 16, mention is made of a certain other pool, which he calls "the pool that was made," which Vitringa thinks had been " made" for preserving the rain waters, which the few showers that fell might send into it. In describing Jerusalem, Tacitus (Hist. b. v. chap. xii.) mentions, "Fons perennis aquæ, cavati sub terra montes; et piscina cisternæque servandis imbribus.” "A perennial fountain of water, the mountain being excavated under ground; and pools, and cisterns dug for preserving the rain." The sacred history, in 2 Chron. xxxii. 30, enables us to understand this passage. It tells us, that Hezekiah " stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David ;" that is, by canals, made in the excavated mountain, he brought the water into the city of Zion, lest in the time of a siege,

See

the city should be distressed for want of water. the four first verses of the same chapter. For the same reason, Manasseh surrounded Gihon with a wall, and included it in the city, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14. "He built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish-gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height." Care was taken to replace these works after the Babylonish captivity, as appears from Neh. xii. 31, 37. For when two companies, appointed to solemnize the completion of the wall, stood together, on the west side of Jerusalem on the wall of the city; the one turned to the right hand, that is, to the south, the other to the left hand, that is, to the north, and both companies met on the east side, when the procession was finished. Now the company, which turned to the right, that is, to the south, first passed the dung gate, and then "the gate of the fountain," that is, of Gihon or Siloam, the waters of which the wall there inclosed. Accordingly, Josephus mentions what an impediment to the besiegers of Jerusalem, the stopping up of the fountains without the city was, since water could not be procured except from a distance. The places, at which those fountains originally issued, were not only concealed, but the excavations leading into the city, had so effectually drained off their waters, that they' could not have been restored to their former channels. Their artificial course most likely survived the destruction of the city by the Romans; from the accounts of modern travellers, it appears to continue to

this day; and in so far as this is the case, the city must be better supplied with water, than it had been in its original state, however inadequate, after all, it manifestly is, for the purpose of immersing thousands in a day.

Many are disposed to think that the Holy Land must be very well supplied with water, because it is now inhabited by such numbers of Mahomedans, who are enjoined to perform their ablutions daily before engaging in prayer, and whose houses are said to be refreshed by delightful fountains, which are made to play and throw up their waters in the inclosed courts around. But of these "purifications there are two degrees, one called Ghosl, being a total immersion or bathing of the body in water; and the other called Wodû, (by the Persians, Abdest) which is the washing of their faces, hands, and feet, after a certain manner. The first is required in some extraordinary cases only-The latter is the ordinary ablution in common cases"-" Lest so necessary a preparation to their devotions should be omitted, either where water cannot be had, or when it may be of prejudice to a person's health, they are allowed in such cases to make use of fine sand or dust in lieu of it."* With regard to the delicious marble fountains, so much celebrated by travellers, within the inclosures of Turkish houses; I have no doubt that, in favourable situations, such luxuries may be found in the houses of the rich and the

* Sale's Koran, Preliminary discourse of prayer, and the previous purifications; and Koran, chap. v.

great, to whom travellers obtain letters of introduction, but they are not to be found among the people at large. In like manner, there may be many public baths in the larger Turkish towns; but this is no proof of a generally abundant supply of water.

Circumstances, minute in themselves, or perhaps of a merely negative nature, which we should never notice in an unconnected state, do nevertheless become remarkable and striking, when they are found to correspond with direct evidence. After what has been stated above, I cannot help mentioning, that in no history, sacred or profane, have I read (so far as my memory serves me) of any persons swimming in or near the city of Jerusalem. Many calamitous deaths have, at different times, befallen its inhabitants; among all these, do we ever meet with an instance of drowning in that place or neighbourhood? Herod the great, indeed, who was reigning in Jerusalem, at the time of our Saviour's birth, caused his son Aristobulus to be drowned; but we are told that, for that purpose, he sent him to Jericho.*

When I read, Acts viii. 12. that in the city of Samaria the inhabitants with one accord gave heed to those things which Philip spake, and when they believed, "were baptized, both men and women;" I have the strongest conviction that in this ordinance there was no immersion. Who can suppose that the comely and holy propagation of the gospel of Christ

* See page 47, and consult the passages in Josephus, which are there quoted.

was attended by a public, and simultaneous, and promiscuous immersion of both sexes? That men, who were strangers, should lay hold of women, and, without distinction of age or condition in life, should immerse them in water and raise them out of it; holding them in their hands, and exposing them in this dismal state to the eyes of the other sex, and to the gaze of the multitude, is to me utterly inconceivable. Not only would it have been objected to by Jews, who were watching for matter of objection; and by Greeks, whose habits of jealousy were such, that it was necessary to employ deaconesses (Rom. xvi. 1.) for the private instruction of their females; but it would be objected to by all nations, at the first entrance of Christianity into a country. Even in our own land, at the present day, the occasional public immersion of individuals, especially of women, requires, in order to its toleration, all the advantage of custom, all the respect which the name of Christianity has acquired from long established and general profession, and all the liberality happily generated by prevailing sentiments of religious liberty.

When I read, Acts x. 47. that Peter said, " Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ?" I believe he proposed that water should be brought in for effusion to the room or place where the company were assembled; not that they should be carried for immersion to a bath, a pool, or a river.

I have precisely the same persuasion when I read, Acts xxii. 16. that Ananias said to Paul, " And now,