from this, such discussions are too often carried on in the manner of a mere conflict, in which either combatant is merely bent upon urging such topics as may make most strongly for his own side bandying arguments and parading a host of texts. I do not think the truth in any case likely to be promoted by such a mode of proceeding. In the present instance especially I conceive the subject is one involving those broader principles which must be collected from a candid and rational inquiry into the historical characteristics of the several portions of the divine dispensations recorded in the Bible, and by looking at passages in accordance with the entire argument of which they form a part. The question ought not to be approached in a polemical spirit, but will receive its solution to each inquirer's mind in proportion as he endeavours to look at Christianity as a whole, in its purely evangelical character as elicited by a rational examination of the New Testament. Its historical peculiarities are precisely those which involve in a very prominent place the class of questions here referred to. It no doubt appeared to the world in the first instance under a sort of Jewish guise, but it was soon seen by the intelligent Gentile inquirer that any such seeming appendages were only the results of a temporary adherence to Jewish prejudices and national peculiarities on the part of a section of its first teachers and professors. It was soon seen to possess a more extended and catholic spirit, and to be a system of spiritual religion and enlightened truth, setting men free from the bondage to beggarly elements,' especially to times and seasons, days and years. In the conception of the enlightened Gentile convert there neither was nor could be any reference to what might be recorded in the earliest portion of the Hebrew Scriptures as in the slightest degree revived under the Gospel, or as in any way different in its application from what was contained more specifically in the law. The Gentile knew nothing of any such earlier or general obligations: he embraced the Gospel as standing on its own ground, and in essential independence of all previous dispensations, though from its Jewish origin the language of its announcement might be unavoidably mixed up with some references to Jewish peculiarities.

In the course of a few centuries corruptions abounded; and not the least of them were the increasing admixture of Jewish ideas and Old Testament views with the pure spiritualism of Apostolic, and especially of Pauline, Christianity. It is only astonishing that in the advance of such corruptions there was not evinced a greater disposition than we actually find, for introducing Sabbatism. But even the nearest approaches to it, in the expressions of Chrysostom, Dionysius and a few more, and in the decrees of

the

the Laodicean and other Councils, are characterized by expressions preserving a broad and marked distinction as to the ground and nature of any such observance.

But the opinions of the fathers, and the decisions of councils, are of no authority to the Scriptural protestant. He will be satisfied to look only to the recorded doctrines of the apostles, and in every page of the writings of the great apostle of the Gentiles, at least, he will find in their simple historical interpretation the most unequivocal declarations of the independence of Christian principles, and the simple character of that scheme of religious service by which the enlightened follower of Christ worships the Father in spirit and in truth,' without distinction of days or places, without relation to those forms which may have been ordained in times past, and for other parties, as no doubt suitable to their position, but with which the Gospel owns no connection,-since 'old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new!' 2 Cor. v. 17.

6

ON THE ABUNDANCE OF THE PRECIOUS METALS IN ANCIENT TIMES.

By G. M. BELL,

Author of The Country Banks and the Currency,' &c.

In the primitive ages of the world the wants of man were not only simple in themselves, but readily satisfied by the exuberant productions of nature around him. The Nimrods of antiquity captured in the chase the venison for their daily repast, and in later times the flocks upon a thousand hills afforded supplies more than adequate to every demand. So long as men were only hunters or shepherds, subsisting on the produce of the chase or of the fold, their social wants were few and speedily gratified. The simplicity of their food, clothing, and dwellings, was by no means greater than the facilities with which they were surrounded. It is a characteristic of the primitive condition of man, in whatever part of the world he is found, that his tastes, his desires, his wants, are simple and few; they are also such as can be readily gratified by the means within his reach. The Esquimaux are at the present day one among numerous instances of the truth of this remark. Their condition is not more primitive and simple than the means which Providence has provided for their sustenance

and

and enjoyment. Although these are indeed few, yet they are adequate to a state in which man is, no doubt, quite as happy as the most prosperous European in the plenitude of his wealth and power. It is only when men increase in number, when society spreads out and extends its boundaries and its desires, that the necessity of more activity, of greater intercourse with others, of an interchange of commodities, as well as of thought and of action, is forced upon the attention, and gradually develops the energies of all.

As society progressed and extended in the early ages, men found out that they could not subsist altogether by the chase, or by attendance upon their flocks. To the occupation of hunters and of shepherds was therefore gradually added those of builders, artificers, and traders. The mighty hunters and the nomade shepherds saw rising around them the towns and villages which marked the progress of civilization and of enterprise; and in course of time the produce of the chase and of the fold, instead of being merely the means of their own subsistence, became the objects of barter and of sale.

Every extension of society brings with it a subdivision of interest and of labour, and the reward of one man is supplied from the skill and the industry of another. All men could not continue hunters and shepherds. Hence, in the progress of events, those talents which were originally directed only to providing the means of daily subsistence, became exerted to discover new sources of enjoyment and new modes of occupation. A town, a stronghold or fort, gradually crowned the surrounding eminence. This afforded greater opportunities for the cultivation of art. It afforded also, what was perhaps of equal importance in those times, a refuge and a defence from the nomade tribes of the plain. Cain built a city, and in process of time the hammer of Tubal-Cain resounded within its walls. In the succeeding days of the patriarchs, Palestine boasted of its fenced cities.' Then came the workers in iron and in brass, artificers of every class and degree, and men who traded to all parts of the known world.

In the primitive ages to which we have alluded, what is now called money was little if at all required. It is only after men begin to trade or exchange commodities with each other that something is found necessary to represent what is understood by money, some common medium of exchange. Originally traffic would be carried on by barter, one thing would be exchanged for another. In the course of time, a certain value being attached to one article, it would be considered equivalent to so many other articles, or a certain quantity of something else. Even in the

present

a

present day, with some of the North American Indians, the skins of animals killed in hunting are used as money. In a pastoral state of society, cattle are used as money. According to Homer the armour of Diomedes cost nine oxen, and that of Glaucus one hundred. Cattle were the first money of the Romans, and also of the Germans. A species of cypræa called the cowry, gathered on the shores of the Maldive Islands, is at the present day used in making small payments throughout India, and is the chief money in certain districts of Africa. The operations of trade would no doubt be carried on for a long period before the precious metals were introduced as money. The peculiar qualities which so eminently fit them for this purpose would only be gradually discovered. A sheep, an ox, a certain quantity of corn, or any other article, would afterwards be bartered or exchanged for pieces of gold or silver, in bars or ingots, in the same manner as they would formerly have been exchanged for iron, copper, cloth, or other commodities. The merchants, in effecting exchanges, would probably first agree upon the quality of the metal to be given, and then the quantity which its possessor had become bound to pay would be ascertained by weight. According to Pliny and Aristotle this is the manner in which the precious metals were originally exchanged in Greece and Italy.

The large quantity of the precious metals possessed by the nations of antiquity, is to be ascribed to the gradual extension of their trade and commerce.

The quantity of money in circulation in ancient Egypt is supposed not to have been great, for as every man raised his own food, and prepared his own clothing, he had no occasion to make purchases, and therefore would not require money. It seems probable also from the history of Joseph, that the tax or rent paid to the sovereign was paid in the produce of the land, and not in money. There is every reason, however, to suppose, that although money, as such, was not much required for circulation, there was, nevertheless, a large accumulation of silver and gold in Egypt, even at a very early period. That country carried on a considerable commerce, and what is now called the balance of trade must have been greatly in her favour. The value of the exports must have greatly exceeded the imports, and the balance would be paid in the precious metals. In the days of Joseph corn was sold for ready money. Other circumstances lead to the conclusion that Egypt was a wealthy country. When the Israelites departed out of Egypt, every woman borrowed of her neighbour jewels of silver and jewels of gold, and raiment, and as Aaron

a Storch, Traté d'Economie Politique.

h Iliad. vi. 235. c Storch, 1. c.

soon

soon afterwards made a golden calf in imitation of the Egyptians, it has been inferred that in Egypt the idols were made of gold. Nearly a thousand years afterwards the prophet Daniel speaks of the gold, and the silver, and the precious things of Egypt.a

The Carthaginians conducted a sort of carrying trade among nations. They might take from Britain tin, which they might exchange in Egypt for linen cloth; they might take corn from Egypt to Spain, and gold from Spain to Egypt. They appear to have possessed a perfect knowledge of the working of metals. They employed about 40,000 men in the mines of Spain, from which they obtained gold, silver, copper, and tin; afterwards they obtained tin in greater abundance from the mines of Cornwall. They regularly visited Britain, taking thence tin, skins, and wool, and leaving in exchange salt, earthenware, and utensils made of brass. It is a singular circumstance, that although the county of Cornwall contains copper in as great quantities as tin, yet this appears to have been quite unknown at the time of the Carthaginians; the Britons, actually imported all the brass instruments they used. The people were probably unacquainted with the method of smelting copper, especially as the county of Cornwall produces neither coals nor wood. The extraction of copper from the ore is a much more severe process than the extraction of tin; and copper, again, is extracted with less difficulty than iron. The Tyrians are said in Ezekiel to have obtained from Tarshish silver, iron, tin, and lead. They obtained iron also from Dan and Javan.R

Commerce, strictly speaking, was the occupation of the Carthaginians. It formed the strength and support of their commonwealth. Their power, their conquests, their credit, their glory, all flowed from this source. Situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, Carthage stretched out her arms to the east and to the west. Her commerce embraced all the known world, including especially the coast of Spain, of Mauritania, of Gaul, and beyond the pillars of Hercules. Her merchants sailed to all countries, to buy at a cheap rate those superfluities which the demands of others made necessary, and which were sold by them at a higher rate. They carried into practice what has been enunciated modern times as the true principles of commerce, 'buying in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest.' From Egypt they brought fine flax, paper, corn, sails, and cables for ships; from the coast of the Red Sea, spices, frankincense, perfumes, gold, pearls, and precious stones; from Tyre and Phoenicia, purple and scarlet, rich stuffs, tapestry, costly furniture, and curious works of art.

d Gilbart's Lectures on Ancient Commerce,

e Gilbart, ut supra.

Whatever