Oriental Illustrations.

EZEKIEL XXIX. 10.-"I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.

Assouan or Syene.-" Syene itself being the last town of Egypt towards the frontier of Ethiopia, this version does not convey the sense of the original, which is correctly given by Newcome,- From Migdol to Syene, even to the border of Ethiopia.' Migdol, rendered 'tower' in our version, but which should be preserved as a proper name, was in the north of Egypt, while Syene was at its southern frontier; so 'from Migdol to Syene' is an expression for describing the whole extent of the country, analogous to 'from Dan to Beersheba.' The cataracts (or rather the first cataract) of the Nile, which occur above this place, and the difficult navigation of the river, make a natural boundary line, so that Syene (now called Assouan) has under all governments been considered the frontier-town of Egypt in this direction. Speaking more strictly, the boundary may be said to be formed by the mighty terraces of that peculiar kind of reddish granite, called syenite from the name of the place. These terraces, shaped into peaks, stretch across the bed of the Nile, and over them the great river rolls its foaming stream, forming the cataracts so often mentioned in every description of Egypt. It was from the quarries at this place that the Egyptians obtained the stone so frequently employed by them in their obelisks and colossal statues. The town of Syene long retained its importance with a very considerable population. Ruins of works and buildings by the successive masters of the land, the Pharaohs, the Ptolemies, the Romans, and the Arabians, are still seen on and around the site of the old town, which the present town so closely adjoins on the north, that the northern wall of the old town forms the southern one of the new. The removal is said to have been made in the year 1403 A.D. (806 A.н.), in consequence of a plague, which destroyed 21,000 of the inhabitants; from which the importance of the place, down to comparatively later times, may be estimated. The scenery in this part is very striking "The river is rocky here, and the navigation, by night at least, dangerous. At the pass of Assouan ruin and devastation reign around. This pass, which nature has so well fortified, seems ill-treated by man. Hardly anything was to be seen but the vast remains of the old town of Syene, with mud-built walls and hovels on every side. Rocks, forming islands, were in the middle of the stream, upon which shrubs were growing. The scene altogether was wild and forlorn." —Madox's “Excursions in the Holy Land, Egypt," &c.

PSALM lix. 14.-" And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city."

The Cries of Dogs at eventide.-A missionary's wife, resident in the colony of Natal, tells us of the painful effect produced upon the mind of sensitive persons by the midnight howlings of the troops of dogs that after nightfall frequent the neighbourhood of the village. At first the sound is so slight as to be unnoticed, as they approach human habitations and quit the retreats where they have skulked all day; next it is heard as if it were a distant roaring of the wind; and as the pack draws nearer a wild and confused chorus of cries disturbs the quiet of the night. Suggestive of the strange and ghostly stories of some of the legendary writers, the listener has his attention powerfully drawn to this, when suddenly it changes, and the yells and shrieks sink to a low growling, a sure sign that some prey has been fallen upon.

JEWISH TRADITIONS AND THE SABBATH.

MARK ii. 24.-"And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful ?"

Sabbath Observance at Safed.-Dr. Thompson, writing of the Jews of Safed, says, "I have no heart to enter into their history, or dwell on their absurd superstitions, their intense fanaticism, comprising an incredible and grotesque melange of filth and finery, Pharisaic self-righteousness and Sadducean licentiousness. The following is a specimen of the puerilities enjoined and enforced by their learned rabbis. A Jew must not carry on the Sabbath even so much as a pocket handkerchief, except within the walls of his city. If there are no walls, it follows according to their perverse logic, that he must not carry it at all. To avoid this difficulty here in Safed, they resort to what they call Eruv. Poles are set up at the ends of the street, and strings stretched from one to the other. This string represents a wall, and a conscientious Jew may carry his handkerchief anywhere within these strings. I was once amused by a devout Israelite who was walking with me on his Sabbath toward that grove of olive trees on the north of the town where my tent was pitched. When we came to the end of the street the string was gone, and so by another fiction he supposed he was at liberty to go on without reference to what was in his pocket, because he had not passed the wall. The last time I was here they had abandoned this absurdity, probably to avoid the constant ridicule it brought upon them.* "Land and the Book."

* See also article on Jewish Customs, page 141.

Illustrative Gleanings.

MAN.

PSALM CXxxix. 14.-" I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

A GRIQUA, in South Africa, stated that the first thing which led him to think of religion was observing the Hottentots who belong to Zak River Mission, giving thanks when eating. "I went," said he, "afterwards to that settlement, where I heard many things, but felt no interest in them. But one day, when alone in the fields, I looked very seriously at a mountain, as the work of that God of whom I had heard; then I looked to my two hands, and for the first time noticed that there was the same number of fingers on each. I asked, Why are there not five on this hand, and three on that? It must be God that made them So. Then I examined my feet, and wondered to find my soles both flat; not one flat aud the other round. God must have done this, said I. In this way I considered my whole body, which made a deep impression on my mind, and disposed me to hear the Word of God with more interest, till I was brought to believe that Jesus died for my sins."

GOD'S PROVIDENCE.

PSALM XXXVI. 7. The children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings."

MR. TRAVERS, a Nonconformist minister, had been ejected from his living of Brixham, when a gentleman procured him the liberty of preaching at a little place near Brentford, in Middlesex, which he did without receiving any emolument. The gentleman, meeting him sometime after, inquired what he had for supplying the cure; to which Mr. Travers readily answered that he had very much; For," said he, "I never preached to a more attentive people in my life." "But," said the gentleman, "what do they pay you? Mr. Travers said Sir J. Harvey thrice invited him to dinner; and being told that was no maintenance, "Sir," said Mr. Travers, "I thank God and you that I may preach the gospel; I have dined to-day, and God will provide for to-morrow." Although Mr. Travers is described as at that time very, meanly dressed, "with a few buttons to his doublet, and a blue leather point to keep the sole and the overleather of one of his shoes together," yet he was always cheerful, and displayed resignation and content both in his countenance and actions.

PROVERBS XI, 25.-" The liberal soul shall be made fat."

The King and the Beggar.-During the retreat of Alfred the Great, at Athelney, in Somersetshire, after the defeat of his forces by the Danes, a beggar came to his castle there, and requested alms. When his queen informed him that they had only one small loaf remaining, which was insufficient for themselves and their friends, who were gone abroad in quest of food, though with little hopes of success, the king replied, "Give the poor Christian one half of the loaf. He who could feed the 5,000 men with five loaves and two small fishes can certainly make that half of the loaf suffice for more than our necessities." Accordingly, the poor man was relieved, and this noble act of charity was soon recompensed by a providential store of fresh provisions, with which his people returned.

THE SABBATH.

EXODUS XX. 8.-" Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."

The Farmer Boy's Reproof.-In a hamlet at the bottom of some lofty mountains, a minister, while preaching one evening, took notice of the necessity of sanctifying the Sabbath, and showed in a variety of ways how that holy day is violated. A farmer's boy was there, who seemed to listen with great attention. When the next Saturday arrived, his fellow servants wondered at his cleaning his shoes then, and not as usual on the Sabbath morning, and on inquiring the reason, "Oh," exclaimed the boy, "have you forgotten what was said by Mr. when he preached last time? You know he said we ought not to do any work on the Sabbath which could as well be done on Saturday; and cannot I clean my shoes as well now as to-morrow ? " The other servants were at once silenced, and said they believed it was right to keep the Sabbath holy.

PSALM CXviii. 24.—" This is the day which the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it.'

A Sabbath well spent.-"Not long ago," writes a gentleman in 1833, "as I took some coffee at a house of refreshment, a gentleman who was reading the newspaper entered into conversation with me. Among other things we spoke of the Christian Sabbath, when he thus expressed himself: 'Though there is doubtless much of ungodliness in England, yet when compared with the Sabbaths on the Continent, a Sabbath here is a delightful season. No one can truly value that blessed day until he

ILLUSTRATIVE GLEANINGS.

157

has been deprived of its enjoyment. When in the army I felt this deprivation; we had misery in every shape, for in the Peninsular War toil, danger, disease, and death were continually around us and among us. The nearer the men appeared to be to eternity the farther off their thoughts seemed to be from God. The thousands that had been slain were disregarded; neither the dead nor the dying seem to excite a serious thought in the minds of the reckless soldiers. In such circumstances how grateful would have been the peace, the refreshment, the consolation, the joy, of a Christian Sabbath! It was on the Sabbath day that I received a letter from an affectionate daughter, then in England; it alluded to the uncertainty of life, especially to a military man. It pressed on me the consideration of eternal things, and pointed me to Him who, in peace and in war, in health and in sickness, in life and in death, is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Every word made a lodgment in my heart. Folding up the letter, and putting a book of prayer in my pocket, I walked out to a distance from the camp until I came to a solitary ditch; in that ditch, on my knees, I poured out my soul before God, and there, in peace, I spent my Sabbath day.'

STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS.

2 CORINTHIANS xii. 10.-"When I am weak, then am I strong."

The Dying Child.- -"The other day," says Dr. McLeod, “I was requested by a brother minister, who was unwell, to go and visit a dying child. He told me some remarkable things of this boy, eleven years of age, who during three years' sickness had manifested the most patient submission to the will of God, with a singular enlightenment of the spirit. I went to visit him. The child had suffered excruciating pain; for years he had not known one day's rest. I gazed with wonder at the boy. After drawing near to him, and speaking some words of sympathy, he looked at me with his blue eyes-he could not move, it was the night before he died—and breathed into my ear these few words, 'I am strong in him.' The words were few, and uttered feebly; they were the words of a feeble child, in a poor home where the only ornament was that of a meek and quiet and affectionate mother, but these words seemed to lift the burden from the very heart; they seemed to make the world more beautiful than ever it was before; they brought home to my heart a great and blessed truth. May all of us be strong in Him.'"