egg fell from the nest it laid low three hundred cedars, and when it broke drowned sixty villages. The story is told by D'Israeli in "Curiosities of Literature," (i. 182,) not quite correctly. This is certainly startling at first sight, but Rabba bar Channah, in the Talmud, (Babba basra, c. v. p. 73,) says he saw a frog as big as a village of sixty houses; a huge serpent swallowed it, and then a great crow hopped down and gorged serpent and frog, and again lighted on the nearest tree. Poor Rabh Papa, the son of Samuel, meekly observed that he could not have credited it unless he had seen the place. Kimchi on Ps. 1. 11, in his exposition of the word , writes: Rabbi Jehuda says that the bird Ziz is so large as to hide the sun, and cause an eclipse when it spreads its wings. On one occasion a rabbin on a voyage saw, in the midst of the sea, a bird standing up to its knees. "Oh," said he to the sailors, "there is no depth of the water here;" when a voice from the clouds exclaimed, "Take care, rabbi! an axe fell here seven years ago, and it has not yet reached the bottom!" Probably birds of this mark lived in the wood of Ela, which was inhabited by a tremendous lion. The Emperor of Rome once asked Joshua, the son of Ananias, why the GOD of the Jews was compared to a lion, for, he inquired, is He strong enough to kill a lion? The rabbi replied, it was not a common lion, but the great monster of Ela wood. The Emperor would not be content until he saw it; and after some long prayers by the rabbi, the lion appeared. When he was some miles off, the brute began to roar, with the same result that attended the appearance of the gentleman mentioned by Walpole, who went to Court in thunder and lightning breeches, and made the Queen laugh so immoderately, that he spoiled the succession to the Neapolitan throne; only in this case the entire future Roman population was at stake, and the walls fell down. A second roar at a short distance proved a windfall to the dentists; for the tooth of every mother's son fell out, and the Emperor tumbled off his chair. (Cholin. cap. iii. p. 59.) Sweetmeats and fruits from Eden and the tree of life follow as a dessert, (Caphtor uperach ex Medrasch. fol. 58, col. 1,) and (Targ. Cantic. viii. 2) pomegranates of Eden, which are preserved for the just.

According to Mohammedan superstition, the whole earth will be as one loaf of bread held out to the faithful; for meat they will have the ox Balâm and the fish Nûn, the lobes of whose livers will suffice seventy thousand men. (Sale, sect. iv. pp. 116, 119.)

Wine from Adam's cellars in Eden washes down the whale, the roc, and the bull.1 (Pesach. f. 34, 2.) A grace cup follows, and is passed from S. Michael and S. Gabriel to the patriarchs, and lastly to David, who returns thanks.2 (Pesach. f. 119, 2.) What is to be done with the fragments? A truly Jewish pro1 Isa. xxvii. 2; lxiv. 4; Ps. lxv. 9.

2 Ps. cxvi. 13; xxiii.

ceeding follows: they are sold in the market of Jerusalem.1 Who are the buyers? for the poor Christians and all the Gentiles and the wicked Jews are extinct. The skin of Leviathan is made up into tents,2 and what is left over stretched along the walls, to give lights to the ends of the world.3 (Talmud. Bava bas. fol. 75, col. 1.)

However, before the feast, Leviathan has had another part to play, viz., to fight with Behemoth in a circus, for the amusement of the good folks. The buttings of the bull will gratify Messiah,5 but Leviathan's scale armour is impenetrable.6 As neither gains the day, Messiah grows impatient, and finishes the battle by putting both the combatants hors de combat." The Jews then provide spits and proceed to cooking, and with much pleasure discuss the fish.9

8

After dinner comes a ball, and there is vigorous dancing, according to Masseches Taanis, (the Fast, fol. 31,) and Rabbi Elieser, 10

Messiah then marries a wife. All the kings of the earth will offer their daughters to be his mistresses, (we thought they were all dead long ago,) who will be kept in a harem, and only appear when called for. The chief Sultana, of course, will be a lovely Hebrew lady. He will at last die, and his son will reign in his stead.12

After all it turns out that some Christians and heathens have not had their throats cut; they are kindly permitted to act as masons, gardeners, and servants, without wages, or any prospect of such a boon. In fact, kings and peasants will offer the Jews any money they may have: the Jews will, consequently, dress very smartly indeed.13 The climate will be delicious;14 wheat once sown will reproduce itself without any further attention whatever. 15 Rain will fall on any particular garden or field, if the owner merely expresses a wish.16 No one will interfere with mowers or reapers.17 There will be a perpetual spring; the trees will have new leaves every day, and produce sweet cakes, confectionery, and silk dresses -charming trees, indeed, better than all the Christmas trees beloved by children, and most welcome to husbands who dread a walk with their wives in Regent or Oxford Street; mushrooms will appear on the same boughs. There will be no war,18 except among the heathen, and they will be prevented from fighting at

once by Messiah ; but we are not informed of the consequences of interference after his death. New marriages will be celebrated, and everybody will be a sage.2

The Mahometans fable a tree of happiness called Tuba, (Yahya in Kor. c. 13,) of which a branch will reach to every believer's house, laden with pomegranates, dates, grapes, and fruits of unknown taste; any kind of fruit that may be desired it produces spontaneously, and actually brings to his door or places in his hand it likewise bears horses, saddled, bridled, and gaily caparisoned, and silk dresses. Black-eyed wives, known as houris, abound; not flesh and blood, but pure musk, will be added to the wives whom the faithful married on earth. Wines of Paradise may be drunk without fear of headaches, and the diet is delicate in proportion. But, unlike the Jewish Eden, here perpetual youth reigns, and an increase of population that would drive Malthusians beside themselves; more rapid, indeed, than any ill weed that ever grew apace, but equal in quickness of production to the seed which will be sown and bear corn in a moment.

66

For the Arabian legends of the Roc or Ru'kh we must refer the reader to Lane's edition of the " Arabian Nights," notes to ch. xx. 22, 62. There is a similar Eastern fable of a monstrous fish, (see notes 8 and 19,) like the sea-beast or Leviathan, alluded to by Milton in "Paradise Lost," which he says a Norway pilot mistakes for an island; there is therefore lacking to the Jewish puerilities even the poor embellishment of novelty. A monstrous tortoise is found in Hindoo mythology, and huge creatures are common to the legends of most romancers, from Pliny to Olaus Magnus and Pontoppidan. The Jew has only made the absurdity profane.

So flagrant is this Rabbinical exhibition of profanity, blasphemy, and absurdity, that the attempt has been vainly made to give the Talmud a non-natural sense. With little better success the Mahometan tries to soften the Koran. With every abatement, these extracts suffice to show the intolerance, pride, avarice, and sensuality of the Jewish mind; the unblushing contempt of rational interpretation, and perverse distortion of the Word of GOD, followed by judicial blindness. We dare not touch upon the theological question; it would be simply impossible to handle holy words in connection with this abominable tissue of fables and senseless folly. But we may well pause to inquire, Are men who believe in such absurdities to be the legislators for the Church of England, and interfere in questions that affect her very existence? We have avoided any desecration of the Holy Bible, by merely indicating the chapter and verse referred to in a footnote; we could not venture to quote it at length in conjunction with these mendacious ab

1 Isa. ii. 4.

2 Jer. xxxiii. 10; Isa. xi. 9.

surdities, which pollute its purity, obscure its grandeur, and pervert the most sublime passages to create a paradise gross as that desired by the followers of Joe Smith, and far inferior to the luxurious pleasure-gardens promised by Mahomet.

Our readers will probably conclude in our own opinion, that Yorick, after all, paid Corporal Trim but an equivocal compliment on his commentary on the Decalogue, when he said that he held him in as high respect as if he had "had a hand in the Talmud.” M. E. C. W.

THE AGE OF CONFIRMATION.

A QUESTION has recently been raised by the Bishop of Durham, which will prove, we believe, of no small value to the Church. The refusal of the Bishop to confirm candidates of younger age than that prescribed in his instructions to his clergy, has called the attention of churchmen very forcibly to the age at which this sacred rite may be administered with the greatest propriety and advantage to the recipients. The point raised was not merely the question whether the Bishop is legally justified in rejecting candidates who are presented to him by their parish priest, and can satisfy the conditions of having learned the Creed, the LORD'S Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and having been further instructed in the Church Catechism. On this the opinion of a high legal functionary was obtained, the sum of which was this,-that whilst a Bishop might be held bound to confirm, the only redress on his refusal would be to obtain a mandamus from the Court of Queen's Bench requiring him to show cause for his refusal, but that the Court might refuse the mandamus on grounds of public policy. We are glad for many reasons that the legal question was carried no farther. The idea of discussing holy things in civil law courts is repugnant to our feelings, and still more distressing would it be for parish priests to endeavour to coerce their Bishops to do what their judgment disapproved.

We have a stronger weapon than law and law courts, and that weapon is an appeal to common sense and consistency. If the question must be settled, though we think its discussion places. it in the way to settlement, by far the better plan would be to present a respectful memorial to the Northern House of Convocation, of which the Bishop of Durham is a member; and this would give the Bishops an opportunity of discussing the arguments and difficulties which attend the question, and also of hearing the Bishop of Durham's explanation of his conduct. It must be re

membered that although the Bishop is the minister of confirmation, the question of age is one respecting which the experience of the parish priest must have weight with the Bishops in enabling them to arrive at a decision, and it would be both ungenerous and disloyal towards them to suppose for a moment that, feeling the weight of an appeal from the parochial clergy, they would persist in adhering to their present practice.

The Bishop of Durham's answer to the memorial simply amounts to an expression of opinion that he knows the law better than the Queen's Advocate. Whether he is alone in his opinion or not does not much matter, for when he finds the parochial clergy presenting candidates everywhere at an earlier age than fifteen, parents desiring the earlier confirmation of their children, and the children themselves longing, as now they too often do in vain, for the blessing of this holy rite, he will yield to the necessity of his position without the compulsion of law or interference of authority.

The present difficulty is just this;-children are baptized in infancy, but their confirmation is deferred until they are fifteen years old. They are taught that without the HOLY SPIRIT's aid they can do nothing, and yet confirmation is denied them at the very time in which they stand in greatest need of it, the time at which they are first subjected to the temptations of the world and the allurements of sin. In agricultural parishes, owing to the increasing demand for labour, it is not often possible to keep children at school beyond their tenth year. When they go to work the battle of life begins, even if it has not done so before in the struggle with sin which every child must encounter. For a year or two, through the Sunday school, the clergyman may be able to exercise some small degree of influence over them, but after that their attendance both at church and at the Sunday school commonly drops off, and they have almost entirely disappeared from their pastor's view when he has to seek them out for confirmation. By this time their habits of life are formed, and evil association has done its worst. Some reject altogether the strength-giving ordinance, because they have no desire for it and will not be hypocrites, others come because their parents and friends expect, that they will, or because they do not like to refuse the clergyman's invitation. Too commonly they come even to the holy rite itself as a matter of form, or for the sake of a holiday. Instead of their confirmation being the commencement of a holy life, habits of carelessness and sin are quickly resumed, and then Dissenters ridicule confirmation as a mere empty form from which no results are to be seen. And when the clergyman bestows much care and thought on the preparation of his candidates, he finds as a general rule that instead of preparing them for the commencement of a Christian life, his real work is to recall them to repentance, and to assist them in