In Nehemiah ii. 14 we hear of the king's pool, and in Nehemiah iii. 16 is mentioned "the pool that was made," not necessarily by David, but probably referring to the "pool of Hezekiah" (2 Kings xx. 20), a pool now existing, and measuring 240 feet by 144, which must be the old pool of Isaiah. The "pool of Siloah by the king's garden" is no doubt the same as Siloam of John ix. 7, where our Lord restored the blind man by anointing his eyes with clay. Of the pool of Bethesda having five porches we have already spoken. All these were artificial tanks, and supplied with water from a number of springs, wells, and fountains, such as the Fountain of the Virgin, on the south side of the city, a singular intermittent spring, flowing in an irregular manner, sometimes three times a day. Tradition connects the Virgin's daily work when in Jerusalem with this spring. Another is the deep Well of Joab (Bir Eyub), the En Rogel of tradition, situated in a spot which marked the boundary line between Judah and Benjamin. Aqueducts also conveyed water to Jerusalem from without, three of which brought water from the Pools of Solomon, thirteen miles off. In fact it has been observed that during the sieges, although much has been said of the sufferings of the people from hunger, the tortures of thirst does not appear to have been added thereto.

The geological position of Jerusalem is favourable to this unlimited supply of water, being built upon a plateau of tertiary limestone, having above nummulitic limestone, composed of soft white limestone with bands of flint and fossils; second, hard silicious chalk, with bands of flints and another set of fossils; third, a white, soft limestone (chalk); and beneath these, pink and white strata of indurated chalk, containing Santa Croce marble. The first three of these occupy a thickness of 400 feet, the summit of the Mount of Olives being formed of the first deposit, and the bottom of the ravine of the Kedron of the last.

The Holy City, however, is but a small place in modern times, whatever it may have been in its splendour. It covers an area of only 209 acres, of which 35 are occupied by the area of the noble sanctuary. The walls measure not more than two and a quarter miles in extent. In this small spot a population of 16,000 souls dwells, divided thus: of Moslems, 4000; of Jews, 10,000; of Greeks, 1800; Latins, 1300; the remaining 900 being various unclassed persons.

(To be concluded in our next.)

JOHN FLAXMAN AND THE NEW CHURCH.

THE beautiful bas-reliefs which have been placed in the church and school in the Palace Gardens Terrace, Kensington, the work of the celebrated Flaxman, have attracted notice in the press, and generally kindly and appreciative notice. The fact that Flaxman was a New Churchman, and the appropriateness of these efforts of his genius being placed in a Church whose doctrines and principles were his own, have been respectfully recognised. The two in the church illustrate the clauses in the Lord's Prayer, "Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil." The one over the gallery on the left side represents a soul in agony struggling against evil spirits. The one over the gallery on the right side represents the soul's triumph. The one in the schoolroom represents Mercury bringing Pandora to earth, to receive the various gifts with which the Graces were to endow her. They are all admirable for their beauty of execution, and most suggestive of the spiritual lessons which they were intended to teach. They had been in the family of Mr. Tulk since the time of Flaxman, and Mrs. Harrison of Richmond, a member of the Kensington congregation, in whose possession they had been for many years, offered them as a gift for the church, with the express sanction of her mother, Mrs. Lee, a daughter of Mr. Tulk, now residing at Florence, whose absolute property they were. They will long, we trust, exist to suggest important spiritual lessons to the worshippers who frequent the church they decorate; and to be an evidence that the truths preached there are those so deeply loved by the amiable Christian and transcendent genius John Flaxman.

This latter fact, however, has been called in question by the author of a rather singular letter in the Church of England newspaper, the Guardian, September 24, 1879, by one who styles himself a West-End Vicar. The letter is as follows:

"JOHN FLAXMAN.

"SIR,—In a recent number of the Guardian a paragraph appeared which stated that John Flaxman, the sculptor, was a member of what is called the 'New Church,' sometimes 'The New Jerusalem Church.'

"It is only fair and just to the memory of this distinguished man to deny what the quoted paragraph implies, viz. that he lived and died a member of this so-called 'New Church.' He did nothing of the

sort. John Flaxman was a very beautiful character, and his modest and gentle nature gave to his friendship the force of a very strong attraction. He was always an earnest reader of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, and was for two years a member of the committee or vestry of one Mr. Bond's congregation, which met in Cross Street, Hatton Garden. His two years' experience, however, sorely tried him, and he left it (see White's 'Emanuel Swedenborg, his Life and Writings,' vol. ii. pp. 607, 608) and returned to the Church of England, in which he remained a devout member until his death.

“How such a man, so pious and intelligent, could have remained so long as two years a member of such a body, is one of those things very difficult to understand.

"It had no beginning in the mind of Swedenborg. He encouraged no schism, and he instituted no sect.

"He certainly in his Writings uses the term 'New Church,' but he meant by them (as he explicitly teaches in his Writings) a new and renovated State-Instauratio Ecclesia-of the Church of the last century, from what he regarded as a moribund condition.

"Now this so-called 'New Church' was founded by one Robert Hindmarsh, a printer, in the year 1787, who was expelled from it in 1789, on the ground of his immoral opinions.

"It is now little other than a corporation, being thus registered under the Companies' Acts, 1862, 1867 (see Minutes of the New Church Conference for 1878,' 'title-page'). Its present condition and teaching power must be lamentable indeed, if we may regard the present President's address delivered at one of the meetings associated with their annual Conference just concluded (see Morning Light, August 23).

"I am not myself a Swedenborgian either by profession or conviction; but I sometimes read the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg very much to my profit, and I have no doubt that if my brethren did the same, they would, by so doing, help to extinguish this sect, and find a great aid in giving more exact expression to the catholic teaching of the Church. A WEST-END VICAR

September 13, 1879."

To refute the only point worth notice in this letter it is but needful to refer to the authority indicated and quote the very words which the West-End Vicar omits to do. The reference he gives is to White's

"Emanuel Swedenborg," etc., vol. ii. pp. 607, 608, where we find "John Flaxman was a member of Proud's committee in Cross Street. Sorely tried was his gentle spirit with their brawls, and gladly did he make his escape from the litigious crew. Faithful he remained to Swedenborg, but his two years of the New Jerusalem Church was sufficient. He rarely attended public worship of any kind afterwards."

The very slight acquaintance of the West-End Vicar with the subject respecting which he writes is evident from his blundering over the name of Mr. Proud's Society in Cross Street, which he calls "

Bond's congregation."

one Mr.

Where is there one word about Flaxman returning to the Church of England, and continuing a devout member to his death? There is not a syllable upon the subject. On the contrary, Mr. White says he continued faithful to Swedenborg. The chapel of which he was one of the committee was only kept open two years. The Society was too weak in its then early days to sustain so large an undertaking, and they were compelled to relinquish it, and so ended Flaxman's connection with the committee. The language respecting the brawls of the litigious crew which sorely tried the gentle spirit of Flaxman is, we fear, of Mr. White's own composing, when his own spirit was sorely tried by being summarily dismissed from the situation of book-manager, which he had abused. We find no other authority for so severe a statement. It ill becomes a vicar of the Church of England, whose excessive quarrels too frequently thrust themselves into every newspaper, to make charges against a quiet orderly body of Christians founded only on the harsh words of a discarded servant.

It might be inferred from the letter that Flaxman was only associated with the New Church for two years. But from Mr. Hindmarsh's "History of the Rise and Progress of the New Jerusalem Church," p. 23, from which probably Mr. White's facts but not his comments were derived, Flaxman was one of the early readers of Swedenborg who met with Mr. Hindmarsh and others on Sundays and Thursdays in a chamber in New Court, Middle Temple, in 1784.

It was in 1797 when Cross Street was opened, so that he had associated already before the two years at Cross Street with the same gentlemen for the same end, "promoting the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem," during THIRTEEN YEARS.

The West-End Vicar cannot conceive how so beautiful a character as Flaxman, so pious and intelligent, could have remained so long as two years a member of such a body. Now that he finds that when

Cross Street was closed he had been connected with such a body FIFTEEN YEARS, his wonder must be greatly increased, unless he concludes that he has been misinformed, and that, at least as to the great majority, the rest of these were beautiful characters too. He would be New Church in mind and life, wherever for convenience he attended for worship; his living and dying a member of the Church of England being altogether a West-End Vicar's myth.

That there were occasional differences of opinion amongst these early men in the New Church, as there were amongst the apostles in the early days of the first Christian Church, is not to be wondered at ; but that as a whole they were devoted, self-sacrificing servants of the Lord must be admitted by all who know their history and regard the truth as a sacred thing, especially in relation to the character of others. The excellent Hindmarsh might construe certain portions of Swedenborg's work on Conjugial Love somewhat differently from others of his brethren is possible enough, but that he would in any way desire to favour immorality of any kind no one can believe who is at all acquainted with his life and with his writings. The remaining remarks of the West-End Vicar we may dismiss with the observation that it is evident his knowledge of the subjects to which he refers is of the flimsiest character. He says he is not a Swedenborgian either by profession or conviction, which is evident. He speaks slightingly of the New Church having legally incorporated itself, as if the Church of England were not also a corporation. We are only disposed to add that should he be enabled to grasp the great principles unfolded by that illustrious writer for the New Church, he will be better able to judge how far one who accepts them in sincerity, and has the opportunity of offering his worship in unambiguous words to His only God and Saviour, can remain in a Church whose prayers as to the greater part are addressed to one God for the sake of another, and commits all the world to perdition who do not accept the dogmas of the Athanasian Creed. The New Church originated neither in the mind of Hindmarsh nor of Swedenborg, but in Him who sits upon the throne of heaven and said, "Behold, I make all things new." She was to begin with a few according to Swedenborg, and so she has; a few among the clergy and a few among the laity. We commend to the consideration of the West-End Vicar the weighty words of Swedenborg : "The Church at this day is devastated to such a degree, that is, is so VOID OF FAITH AND LOVE, that although men know and understand, still they do not acknowledge and still less believe, EXCEPT THE FEW WHO ARE IN THE LIFE OF GOODNESS, and are called the elect, who now