burden rests to prove that the Samaritans, on account of the scarcity of water in that unknown city, "a city of Samaria," could not be immersed ! And this is he who has written respecting his opponents and the "much water" of Ænon what we can record without admitting the veracity of the charge: "I do wonder at the disingenuous artifice of learned men, who, knowing well the nature of the country, have not scrupled to make the most of this worthless argument" (pp. 312, 313).

But our hero, not quite blind to the worthlessness of what he has himself written, and yet resolved that this declamation against the immersion of the Samaritans shall not be labour in vain and good for nothing, informs us that if his inferences are unwarrantable in reference to the supposed city, he will only use them in reference to "other cities in the East, which undoubtedly derive their supply of water from one or two wells or springs." If the city were not Sychem, yet IF Philip's preaching or that of an apostle had been successful in a city where, like many cities in the East, there was "no more water than is sufficient for daily use, the men and women could not have been baptized without great inconvenience, if immersion were indispensable." If this is the best that can be said against the immersion of the Samaritans, we think those the most prudent who say nothing. The supposed condition of "many cities in the East we regard as an assumption "perfectly gratuitous;" and if it were a fact, it proves nothing in regard to that city of Samaria where Philip baptized many believers, men and women. Let Dr. H., or any other doctor, prove that the fact of kindness in giving a cup of cold water, and the assurance of recompense in the case supposed by our Saviour, indicate the scarcity of water, and prove the accordance of what he asserts or insinuates respecting the impossibility of immersion with the practice of frequent bathing by the Easterns of all ranks and in all their cities. We would remind Dr. H. that water "sufficient for daily use" in "the cities of Palestine," and in "many cities in the East," included water for ablutions as well as for drinking purposes.

If Dr. H. had gracefully or equitably given up the case of the Samaritans without associating its abandonment with the grossest assumptions and most unfounded inferences, he had prevented some of our most painful but demanded animadversions. The supposed impossibility of immersion in certain places will be subsequently noticed. Also the practice of Eastern women in resorting to a well or a river for the purpose of washing. To those who wonder that we have no account of the inquiries of the Gentiles respecting this new rite, we might reply, that we wonder what sort of a book the Bible would have been if it had been formed on the "gossiping principle" of detailing "everything that happened on such occasions," and that we recommend a perusal of the latter part of the chapter, where in one instance sufficient details are given in proof that baptism is immersion.

It might add to the knowledge of some of our brethren were we to insert the following respecting Samaria, whose hills are said to be clothed to the summit with vegetation: "These, with the luxuriant valleys which they enclose, present scenes of unbroken verdure in almost every point of view, which are delightfully variegated by the picturesque forms of the hills and vales themselves, enriched by the occasional sight of

wood and water, and rills and torrents running among them" (Buckingham's Palestine, vol. ii., p. 390). Also the Rev. G. Fisk, who visited Palestine in 1842, observes: "It was probably on account of the coolness of the water in Jacob's well that the woman of Samaria came so far from Sychar to draw water, when other wells were near at hand, and while the valley of Sychar abounded with rich streams." Also the Rev. R. H. Herschell, who published an account of his visit to the same country in 1813, says: "There are fountains close to the town of Sychar." In recording this unexceptionable testimony respecting Sychar, the possible city where Philip preached and baptized believers, and concerning Samaria, we nevertheless maintain that if facilities for immersion did not now exist, it would not militate against the inspired record that "when they believed Philip . . . they were immersed, both men and women." The Ency. Brit. speaks of changes in the city of Samaria, which may have taken place in many other cities: "Though it was built upon an eminence, yet it must have water in abundance; since we find medals struck in this city whereon is represented the goddess Astarte treading a river under foot; which proves it to have been well watered. And Josephus observes that when it was taken by John Hircanus, the prince of the Jews, he entirely demolished it, and caused even the brook to flow over its ruins to obliterate all the footsteps of it" (Art. Samaria). Who does not know what a change in Babylon was effected by Cyrus; and what changes in cities and countries have been effected by earthquakes, &c. Of the city of Sychar, represented by the opponents of immersion as having no river or fountain of pure water in it, or in its immediate neighbourhood, as having "no other considerable collection of pure water suitable for drinking or for ablutions," but the well called Jacob's well, the Rev. Geo. Gilfillan but iterates the recorded facts to which every traveller testifies, when he says: "Sichem,' Shechem, or Sychar, called in modern times Nablous, or Naplous, is delightfully situated in a narrow valley between the celebrated hills Gerizim and Ebal, and is richly surrounded by groves and gardens."—Alpha and Omega, vol. i., pp. 319, 320.

water. . . .

Dr. E. ROBINSON, in his Biblical Researches, respecting the well of Sychar, says: "The well bears evident marks of antiquity, but was now dry and deserted." He does not say that the inhabitants of that part had all fled, or were all dead, now that the customary place of resort for water," the only "considerable collection of pure water suitable for drinking or for ablutions" in that part was dry! It is not always dry. Maundrell says of the well: "It is dug in a firm rock, and contains about three yards in diameter, and thirty-five in depth; five we found full of This measurement was verified by Dr. Wilson in April, 1843; but at that time the bottom was scarcely covered with water." "A very obvious question presented itself to us on the spot, viz., How it can be supposed that the woman should have come from the city, now half an hour distant, with her waterpot, to draw water from Jacob's well, when there are so many fountains just around the city, and she must have also passed directly by a large one at mid-distance? But, in the first place, the ancient city probably lay in part nearer to this well than the modern one; and then, too, it is not said that the woman came thither from the city at all. She may have dwelt, or have been labouring, near by the well, and have gone into the city only to make her wonderful report respecting the stranger prophet. Or, even granting that her house was in the city, there would be nothing improbable or unusual in the supposition that the inhabitants may have set a peculiar value on the water of this ancient well of Jacob, and have occasionally put themselves to the trouble of going thither to draw. That it was not the ordinary

public well of the city, is probable from the circumstance that there was here no public accommodation for drawing water. More difficult it is to account for the fact that a well should ever have been dug here at all, on a spot in the immediate vicinity of so many natural fountains; and irrigated even at the present day by rills of running water, brought down from the source higher up the valley, and of sufficient force to drive a mill. I can solve this difficulty only by admitting that this is probably the actual well of the patriarch, and that it was dug by him in some connection with the possession of the parcel of ground' bought of Hamor, the father of Shechem; which he gave to his son Joseph, and in which Joseph, and possibly his brethren, were buried. The practice of the patriarchs to dig wells wherever they sojourned, is well known; and if Jacob's field, as it would seem, was here before the mouth of the valley of Shechem, he might prefer not to be dependent for water on fountains which lay up that valley, and were not his own (vol. ii., PP. 283-286). Also, at page 302, Dr. R. says: "The whole valley of Nabulus is full of fountains, irrigating it most abundantly; and for that very reason not flowing off in any large stream. The valley is rich, fertile, and beautifully green, as might be expected from this bountiful supply of water." He has before said that "the city of Nabulus lies directly upon the water summit of this valley; the waters on the eastern part, as we have seen, flowing off east into the plain, and so to the Jordan; while the fine fountains on the western side send off a pretty brook down the valley north-west towards the Mediterranean" (pp. 275, 276). That Sychar and Sichem, the present Neapolis or Nabulus, are identical, Dr. R. considers to be proved (p. 133); but what shall we think of Dr. Halley's candour when we read from Dr. R., "Nabulus is furnished with water in singular abundance in comparison with the rest of Palestine. On the east is the large fountain of Defneh, running off east and turning a mill. On the west are the similar fountains by which we were encamped. In the higher part of the city itself are two large fountains, and another in the ravine above on the side of Mount Gerizim. The water of these three flows off west, partly along the streets of the city, and partly in a canal, from which gardens are irrigated and several mills supplied" (vol. iii., p. 134). "The region round about Nabulus, within the valley, is full of fountains. They seem to break out in all directions; and water from some of them runs through the streets of the city" (p. 131). Yea, from Jacob's well, "only a few rods distant, is a mill, the copious stream of which comes from the fountain of Defneh above in the valley" (p. 132).

The testimony of Dr. Hackett, who also has visited this place, is like that of Dr. Robinson, and, except that he is a Baptist, is similarly calculated to cover with confusion those Padobaptists who, in avoiding a covering for once with water, conjure up the idea that this was an arid region, and that there was but one well of suitable drinking water for a multitude of inhabitants, and then jump to the conclusion that Philip's baptizing of the men and women who believed, was a sprinkling of them. Having spoken of "the great northern road from Jerusalem to Samaria and Galilee," and of the country, he mentions "where stands Nabulus, the ancient Shechem or Sychar. A more lovely spot than that which greets the eye here it would be difficult to find in any land. Streams which gush from perennial fountains impart a bright and constant freshness to the vegetation. The deep verdure which clothes the gardens and orchards produces the more pleasing effect because it has its foil, so to speak, in the sterile aspect of the adjacent mountains. It is no wonder that the patriarchs were fond of pitching their tents here, and pasturing their flocks on the neighbouring plain. But that which gives to this locality its most sacred interest is the continued existence here of the well where our Saviour held His memorable conversation with the woman of Samaria." Amongst other things, he says: "Other wells, of easier access, must have been at hand." "The record may imply that the woman was well known in Sychar; it does not say that she resided there; she may have lived where she was nearer to Jacob's well than to any other wells of the city. Secondly, the fact that it was Jacob's well may have given a value to the water, in the eyes of the Samaritans, which made them anxious to obtain it occasionally, though at the cost of some particular trouble. Thirdly, the depth of the well may have rendered the water cooler than that of fountains nearer to the surface; and, finally, Sychar probably extended further east towards the plain than the modern town, so that the greater distance was trifling when the object was to obtain water so much valued. It has

Dr.

been deemed surprising that any one should ever have thought of boring a well to such a depth through the solid rock, when there are so many natural fountains in the neighbourhood which furnish an easy and abundant supply of water. Robinson urges this fact very properly," &c.-Illus. of Scrip., pp. 176–184. Dr. STANLEY, speaking of Sychar in connection with Samaria, says: "Six miles from Shechem, following the course of the same green and watered valley, the traveller finds himself in a wide basin," &c. (Sinai and Palestine, p. 243). Of Jacob's well he says: It "has been well observed that it was dug by one who could not trust to the fresh springs so near in the adjacent vale, which still belonged to the hostile or strange Canaanites" (p. 241).

Dr. KITTO, speaking of the "fertile plains or basins" of Samaria, says: "These plains and valleys are watered by numerous streams, which contribute greatly to their fertility." Speaking of the city of Samaria, he says: "The enclosed valley which surrounds the central hill is very beautiful, watered by running streams, &c. (Pic. His. of Pal., p. exvii.) Again: "The town of Nablous,-the Shechem of the Old Testament, and the Sychar of the New Testament,-is about four miles from the ruined city of Samaria. The long narrow valley in which it stands has already been described as extending its length from east to west between the mountains of blessing and cursing, the fertile Gerizim and the barren Ebal. So abundantly is this valley watered that, popularly, it is said to be enriched by three hundred and sixty-five springs" (p. cxviii.).

We can admit, with Dr. Kitto, that Judea was naturally less fertile than Galilee and Samaria, that the water, too, was in some places more brackish, and that "this inconvenience has rendered rain so precious to the inhabitants of the frontiers, that they have in all ages taken care to collect it into wells and caverns closed; hence, among all ruins cisterns are the first things we discover;" and can admit what Dr. Halley quotes from Dr. Chandler respecting Eastern women resorting to fountains "each with a large two-handled earthen jar," without being oblivious of the fact that by some means they had water for their food, and water for their abundant ablutions, and without seeing a tittle of evidence that baptizo, the Greek word for immerse, must mean also to pour, or to sprinkle, or to use water in any convenient way. Additional extracts which we had quoted from H. Martineau on Eastern Life, J. L. Stephens's Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petra, and the Holy Land, and others, we shall omit in remembrance of the apostle's words, "If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant."-1 Cor. xiv. 38.

§ 14.-PUTILITY OF OBJECTIONS TO THE IMMERSION OF THE EUNUCH.

J. B. PATTERSON." Among the most common and most vexatious arts of controversy, is that by which a disputant selects what is in reality but a part of an opponent's argument, and undertakes to refute it as if it were the whole."--Lee on Nat. Rel. Est., p. 3.

C. T. With the scriptural, influential Christian, no duty is neglected, no virtue is cultivated to the omission of other virtues. There is respect to all God's commands, and every false way is hated." Under the abiding conviction that all we can know, as to what will please and what will displease God, is revealed in His Word, let us peruse it with a previous prayerful determination that we will believe whatever it says, and do whatever it commands us." "To be Christians in the right sense of that appellation, our creed must be, not what Calvin wrote, Luther said, or our church believes; not what the best men or most men say, but what God has said."-Perso. Piety, pp. 59, 124, 129.

JAMES C. L. CARSON, M.D.-"Some people find it more easy to change Scripture than to change their own pet views."-Heresies, &c., p. 83. Dr. HALLEY.If we can only see a real baptism,' we may with truth and certainty copy the mode of performing it" p. 370,.

THE baptism of the eunuch being more particularly narrated than that of any other baptism, after the commission given by Christ to His apostles to disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit; and being so clearly confirmatory of immersion; and having been referred to in dwelling on the prepositions in connection with baptism; it was intended here to omit a further exposure of objections to his immersion. The following may suffice on that baptism, which, supposing it to be "a dipping of the whole body," is designated by Prof. J. H. Godwin, as "inconvenient, indecent, and unparalleled" (Chr. Bap., p. 112). The reader will find, in previous pages, remarks applicatory to the convenience of the eunuch's baptism by Philip; to the change of raiment with which the treasurer of the Ethiopian queen must have been supplied; to the safety with which the eunuch could, after his immersion, prosecute his journey; to the certainty of inspired testimony to his going down into the water in order to be baptized by Philip, and his coming up out of the water after his baptism; and to every word in the inspired record as not only being consistent with immersion, but confirmatory of the fact that baptism is immersion. See pp. 315–331. Also, at pp. 139, 140, 142, 143, 148, are Pædobaptist concessions from Vossius, Alting, Calvin, Lightfoot, Towerson, Doddridge and others. On the safety and decency of immersion we shall subsequently speak more particularly. See also Dr. Pye Smith on bathing in Judea, Dr. Jamieson on the climate of Palestine, and Dr. Livingstone on bathing in Africa, at pp. 342, 343. Let the reader who cannot say with Calvin on this passage, "Here we perceive how baptism was administered among the ancients, for they immersed the whole body in water," attempt a reply to the following from the Rev. A. Booth: "How comes it that these expressions, or others equivalent: Peter, or Paul, or Philip (for instance), poured water into a basin, and baptized such a one, are entirely unknown to the New Testament? How came the inspired page to speak, not of basins, but of rivers; not of a little, but of much water; not of bringing water to the candidate, but of his going to, and into the water; not of wetting, but of burying; when the administration and the design of the ordinance are described? Were one of our opponents to publish a history of his own practice in regard to baptism, he must either use different language from that of inspiration respecting this matter, or expose himself to a violent suspicion of having deserted the cause he once espoused. His character would certainly appear problematical among his brethren, and his conduct bear a dispute, whatever he might intend. If, therefore, the sacred historians practised aspersion, their conduct as writers was extremely remarkable; for though, on that supposition, they set the example which our opposers follow, as to the mode of administration; yet, in their narrations, they adopt such expressions, and mention such circumstances relating to baptism, as would make a very singular figure from the pen of an English Predobaptist when describing his own conduct and views in reference to that institution. Were my reader to peruse a narrative of baptismal practice, penned by a foreigner, or by any anonymous author, of whom he had no knowledge but what was obtained from his writings,-were he to find him speak of choosing a place for the administration of baptism, in preference to others, because there was much water there; of his baptizing in a river; of going down with the candidate into, and coming up out of the water, were he to find him reminding baptized persons of their