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Letter from Mr. Whiting.

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ed." Whether he will be able equally to remove all doubt from other

minds, remains to be seen. The following may serve to give the reader a general idea of his accuracy and trust-worthiness.

In his preface (p. ix), he speaks of having found the sites of thirty ancient places, not before discovered; and he proceeds to describe two of them, Ai and Gibeah, as follows: "We found the ruins [of Ai], called by the Arabs Medinet Chai, not quite an hour eastward of Jaba (Gibeah of Saul) upon a hill above the declivity of Wady es-Suweînît. Half an hour further east, where the Suweînît unites with Wady Fa'rah, we came upon the ruins of Gibeah of Benjamin, called by the Arabs Gobah." Now the distance thus assigned between Ai and Bethel is not less than eight miles in a straight line, and much further by any possible road; whereas it appears from Josh. 8: 12, and still more from vv. 16, 17, that Ai and Bethel were at least not very far apart from each other. Again this writer, for the first time, makes a distinction between Gibeah of Benjamin and Gibeah of Saul; finding the latter at Jeba (the true Geba), and the former an hour and a half further east. But this distinction is unfounded, and his positions are both wrong; for the Gibeah of Saul and of Benjamin are obviously one and the same place; and as may be demonstrably shown from Josephus, that place was situated at the hill Tuleil el-Fûl near the great road some three miles north of Jerusalem. See Jos. B. J. 5. 2. 1. Biblioth. Sac. Aug. 1844, p. 598 sq.

Another beautiful volume on Jerusalem has been issued by James Ferguson, Esq. It is the object of the author, on architectural grounds, to maintain the position that the present mosk of Omar, esSukrah, is the original church of the Holy Sepulchre erected by Constantine.

The main object of the present notice, is to introduce to the reader the following letter from the Rev. George B. Whiting, one of the missionaries of the American Board in Syria. Mr. Whiting, it may be remembered, was for several years a resident in the Holy City; and to his kindness and minute information I was very greatly indebted during my visit there in 1838. In his present visit he was accompanied by the late Prof. Fiske of Amherst College, a man of strong powers of mind and keen observation, who died during the visit and found his last resting-place on Mount Zion. He was a man of God; and I mourn in him the friend of many years.

It may be proper to remark, that the alleged remains of antiquity along the west side of the street of the Bazaars, are likewise rejected

1 Essay on the ancient Topography of Jerusalem, with Illustrations. By James Ferguson, Esq. Lond. 1847.

by Krafft; who nevertheless regards the second wall as having run along that street.

"Abeih, Mount Lebanon, 22d August, 1847.

"MY DEAR SIR:-A few months ago I read with deep interest, and I may add with entire satisfaction, your two articles in the Bibliotheca Sacra on the Topography of Jerusalem. Being then about to revisit the Holy City, I resolved to examine anew some points on which much stress is laid by Mr. Williams, in his attempt to overthrow the position maintained in the Biblical Researches, in respect to the Tyropoon valley, and the course of the Second Wall.

"One of these points, and perhaps the most plausible one in Mr. Williams's argument, is the alleged fact, that along the street running eastward from the Jaffa gate, at the northern base of Mount Zion, where you find the commencement of the Tyropoon, there are no traces of a valley to be found; and that the street called 'Harat en-Nusăra,' or Christian street, which leads out of the street last named towards the north, is perfectly level. Now, it must be conceded that this Christian street' is, at the point where it leaves the other (the Jaffa-gate street), nearly or quite level; and yet as you go northward there certainly is a gradual ascent, through almost the whole length of the street. And if, as you suggest, the course of the street were turned a few points westward, the ascent would be more rapid.

"But a more conclusive answer to the argument of Mr. W., is the fact, also suggested by you, that there is undoubtedly a large accumulation of rubbish, all along the northern base of Mount Zion, by which the old valley has been filled up. This fact is not only rendered extremely probable by the existence of a great depth of rubbish and old buildings on all the northern parts of Zion, as was found to be the case in digging for the foundations of the English Church, and for those of the barracks erected by Ibrahim Pasha; but it is now proved by excavations actually made at different points in the valley itself. So that the argument upon the present level appearance of the ground in question, is literally an argument resting upon rubbish. It has no solid foundation.

"But I am detaining you too long from the information which it is the object of this letter to communicate, and which clearly establishes the important fact in question. While walking in company with the late Prof. Fiske, through the enclosure once occupied by the great palace or hospital of the Knights of St. John, our attention was arrested by a large heap of rubbish freshly thrown up, lying near by the little Greek church in the south-west corner of the enclosure. On en

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Tyropæon Valley.

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tering the yard of this church, we found people digging for foundations on which to erect additional buildings. They had already excavated to the depth of some fifteen or twenty feet (as we estimated), through nothing but rubbish, and had just then come upon the top of a vaulted room, the depth of which could not yet be seen. The men said it was understood there was an ancient chapel there, long since buried beneath the ruins and rubbish of other buildings. Whether the

vaulted room, the top of which we saw, was the said chapel or not, or whether it belonged to the first, or the second, or the third story of a structure long since buried and lost, we of course could not tell. But supposing it to have been on the first or lower story, the original foundations must have been at least thirty or forty feet below the present surface. They may have been much deeper than that. Now, this spot is within a few yards of the 'Jaffa-gate' street-precisely where, on your theory, we should look for the Tyropoon valley filled up with rubbish. I need not tell you how much we were interested in this discovery; which we instantly resolved to make you acquainted with.

On this same

"I proceed to mention another fact of the same sort. 'Jaffa-gate' street, at a point further up towards the gate, a large new building has lately been erected. It stands opposite the castle on the corner of the street leading north from the main street towards the Latin convent. Of course then, this building stands directly over the bed of your Tyropcon Valley; and here also we should look for a considerable accumulation of rubbish. I inquired of a European merchant, who occupies a part of the building, and who said he was present when it was erected, whether in digging to lay the foundations, much depth of rubbish was found? A very great depth,' he replied. 'How deep do you think the excavations were?' 'O, I don't know,' he said, but very deep. Look at the height of that castle wall; the depth of our excavations was equal to that.' The part of the castle wall to which he pointed, cannot be less than forty or fifty feet high. 'Are you sure,' I said, 'your foundations were so deep? Yes,' he answered with confidence, 'quite as deep as the height of that wall.'

"Our English friends in Jerusalem, like ourselves, were much interested in these facts; and regarded them as proving beyond all controversy, that there was formerly a deep valley or ravine along the course of this street. And it seems to me, that no unbiassed mind can doubt, after reading your very lucid reply to Williams and Schultz, that that valley was the Tyropoon.

"The new building above referred to, is perhaps not more than 100 or 150 yards from the Jaffa gate. Is it not probable that the valley

originally extended quite through to the valley of Hinnom, leaving Mount Zion entirely surrounded by the two valleys?

"Much has been said by Mr. Williams and others, about some supposed ancient remains, near the corner formed by the Jaffa-gate street and the street running north through the Bazaars; as also about a supposed Pier of an ancient gateway,' in the open grounds on the west of the Bazaars. Both of these points I took some pains to examine, in company with Prof. Fiske. The remains first mentioned, are nothing more nor less than a square corner, in a good state of preservation, of the celebrated palace of the Knights of St. John. You may recollect a row of arches, almost entire, along the north side of this Jaffa-gate street, extending from near the Bazaars, almost up to the Christian Street.' This row of arches, I believe it is on all hands admitted, belongs to the Crusades, and evidently formed the south basement of the great palace of the Knights. The square corner alluded to, is a continuation or more correctly, the termination of this row of arches. It is exactly on a line with them, and built in the very same style, the stones being of the same shape and size with those of the arches and buttresses.

"Looking northward from this corner of the old palace, we noticed, exactly on a line with the eastern face of it, and about midway between it and the north side of the palace enclosure, Mr. Williams's 'pier of a gateway,' which he says is, in its style of architecture, different from anything he had seen in Jerusalem, and, as he thinks, of high antiquity. Now, if Mr. W. had carefully compared this relic with the row of arches above-mentioned, he would have found that the style of architecture is precisely the same in both. Even the shape and dimensions of the stones are the same in both. The stones are mostly of an oblong form, three or four feet in length, as I should think, and perhaps a little less than two feet in breadth and thickness. And further, if he had looked from the top of the corner, already described, across the open ground to this 'pier of a gateway,' he would have been satisfied that both the 'pier' and the 'corner,' are part and parcel of one and the same building, and that the old palace of the Knights of St. John. I think you have suggested in your review, that this was one of the gates of the said palace; and it seems to me that no one, who carefully compares the several remains now alluded to, can doubt for a moment that such is the fact. I remain, my dear Sir, with great respect, Most truly yours,

G. B. WHITING.

"P. S.-Mr. Smith lent me the sheets of your article, and I left them with Dr. McGowan, of Jerusalem, for the edification of travel

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Argument in the Epistle to the Galatians.

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lers. Dr. M. is much interested in the subject; is quite convinced of the correctness of your views, and has promised to keep an eye upon those excavations, and any others that may be made, and to communicate to me anything interesting that he may discover.

REV. DR. ROBINSON."

G. B. W.

ARTICLE V.

ANALYSIS OF THE ARGUMENT IN THE EPISTLE TO THE

GALATIANS.

By Prof. H. B. Hackett, Newton Theol. Institution.

THE epistle to the Galatians is one of the most argumentative of all the New Testament epistles; both in this respect and in point of doctrinal importance, it stands confessedly next to the epistles to the Romans and the Hebrews. The following is an attempt to exhibit with conciseness a logical outline of the contents of this epistle. It will be perceived that in two or three instances the course of thought as developed here, is founded on passages which are controverted, and which some might choose to understand differently;1 but for the most part, the nerve of the argument will be found to be contained in expressions which by general consent admit of only one explanation.

The general object of the epistle was to arrest the progress of the false sentiments respecting the mode of acceptance with God, which the Judaizing errorists were spreading in the Galatian churches, and to bring back the Galatians to their original dependence on Christ as the only foundation of their hope of salvation. For the accomplishment of this object, the writer adapting himself to the course pursued by his opponents aims, first, to establish his claim to a full equality as an apostle with the other acknowledged apostles of our Lord; second, to explain and confirm the true doctrine of justification by grace alone in opposition to that of works; and, finally, to administer such counsels and reproofs as the moral condition of the Galatians required. Of these three parts into which the epistle divides itself, the first may be termed apologetic, including the first two chapters, the second doctrinal or dogmatic, including the third and fourth chapters, and the

'This remark applies, however, almost exclusively to 3: 19. 5: 11. VOL. V. No. 17. 9