transactions of Europe for the last thirty years, what an interesting æra will it form in the annals of modern history! We have heard of villages and towns ravaged and laid waste by the destructive sword, cities burnt, armies annihilated, kingdoms shook to their very centre. During this period of devastation and warfare, there arose an individual who acted as a principal agent in the bloody contest; a man who emerged from an obscure family in the island of Corsica, entered the army as a subaltern officer, was raised to the rank of a general, became the first consul, and finally the emperor of a powerful nation. Yet, notwithstanding this extraordinary elevation, I do not fear contradiction when I say, that rank never confers greatness. Were there any lucid traits in the character of this remarkable man, I am inclined to give them the weight they merit. Buonaparte certainly possessed talents of a superior kind: he had a good natural understanding, an acute and penetrating mind, that enabled him to develop characters with wonderful discrimination and facility; arts and sciences he was not unacquainted with; yet, with all his natural and acquired abilities, his knowledge was more superficial than profound. All these brilliant attainments took an improper bias, and flowed in a polluted channel. Buonaparte was a proud man; he was an ambitious man; he was a cruel man; but, though elevated to a throne, never, never, was he a great man. J. B. Reflections written by John Bradford the Martyr, on the Blank Leaves of his New Testament. WHENSOEVER thou seest a blindness in thy mind, and hardness in thy heart, and therefore art troubled, and something therethrough moved to waver and doubt of God's mercy towards thee, beware that thou be not unthankful to the Lord for the mercy which in this plague he sendeth, in that he suffereth thee not to see so much of thy blindness and hardness as it is, for if this little piece which thou now dost something see, do a little make thy faith to waver, oh! how much would thy faith waver, if thou sawest the thing as it is; therefore be thou thankful for not seeing so much of the evil thou hast as it is. i Learn to let the world daily more and more to die unto you before you die unto it, lest death when it cometh will be more dangerous. When you depart hence, nothing in all this world will go with you, then will it and all things here make as though they never had known you; therefore esteem it not so much as many do, for you shall find no true friendship of it; rather study to get and keep still a good conscience, which if you have at your departure, then are you happy: a good conscience, I call a good purpose in all things to live after God's will; this is given by the resurrection of Christ, that is, by knowing certainly through faith that Christ by his death hath made purgation of your sins past, and by his resurrection hath justified you and regenerated you, so that you purposing to live as God shall teach, you have in God's sight a good conscience, whose root you see is in faith, which God for his mercy's sake more and more increase in us! Amen. See that thou let the world die to thee, before thou die unto it; or else thou shalt die indeed, where otherwise thou shalt never die. As Moses and Elias talked with Christ of his departing which he fulfilled at Jerusalem by death, so do they tell and talk with us that our departing is never fulfilled till death cometh; then both in body and soul we shall depart from this life, and go to God our Father. As the original of your words and works is of the mind, and as it is so they be constructed, so the end of all your words and working should be to the mind, that thou by it might be advised. - It is better for truth's sake to suffer pain, than for flattery promotion to obtain; he that for fear of any power doth hide the verity, upon his own pate God's grievous vengeance falleth. He that considereth God and his I ways, mean it concerning his mercies or displeasure simply out of himself and others, surely the same shall feel little affection, that is, shall little fear or rejoice; therefore when you consider the judgments and mercies of God showed upon others, see that by such means you apply the same in some part to yourself, so shall you find commodities (comfort) To fear God is the beginning of wisdom, for by it we depart from evil, and so are more mete to receive God's grace and fellowship, which cannot be had of them that walk in darkness; therefore inasmuch as this book doth teach, true wisdom is that you will be a reader and student of it, see that you bring with you the fear of God, for which you! must pray heartily; and that you may know when you fear the Lord, mark how you depart from evil, and flee from the works of darkness; which things if you do, then come à God's name, and with reverence read this book, knowing for certain that therein the Lord doth speak unto you: be not therefore an Eutychus, but rather a Theophilus, and God shall give you his blessing-which thing he do, for his mercy's sake! Illustrations of various Passages of Scripture, selected from different Authors. IX.-JOHN, ii. 6. "And there were set there six water-pots of stone, after the "manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three "firkins apiece." BETWEEN this place (Nazareth) and Rama, on a slight elevation above the valleys, is the village of Cana, distinguished by the first exertion of Christ's miraculous powers. Fragments of stone jars, apparently large enough to contain several gallons, may be found still in particular parts of Galilee, although vessels of their description are no longer in use in that district. As relics of antiquity, they are entitled to some attention; but the authenticity of the gospel narrative cannot surely be affected by any such evidence: the author, even of a work avowedly fictitious, would hardly describe the usages of any known country otherwise than they were universally recognized to exist at the period of his writing. [Jolliffe's Letters from Palestine.]. X.--PROVERBS, XXX. 17. "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his "mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." We have been credibly informed by a person who was present in that dreadful conflict, in which so many thousands of their fellow-creatures were hurried in a moment to their dread account, to gratify the ambition of one or two individuals, who would arrogate to themselves the lordship of the earth, that before the battle of Marengo, between the Austrians and the French,immense flocks of vultures hovered over both the armies, as if possessed by a prescience of the dreadful carnage which was soon to take place. The rocks were literally covered with them; and after the battle, when the pioneers came to bury the dead, the vultures had already commenced their anticipated feast, and in many instances had only taken the eyes, which, it should seem, they had selected as the most precious morsel. To such a circumstance Solomon may allude. The graceless youth who mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, shall, abandoned and ruined, fly to the army as the last resource of a blasted reputation, and, falling in battle, his eyes shall become the vulture's prey. This circumstance, too, of the acuteness of the vulture's smell, may serve very satisfactorily to account for what has been considered as only a popular superstition, that of the croaking of the raven before the death of an individual. That there is in many cases, before dissolution, a strong smell of corruption, is admitted by the faculty; now, the acuteness of the raven's smell may perceive this, and be attracted to the spot, and croak upon the roof of the house, in expectation of the carrion corresponding with the smell. XI. REVELATION, XV. 2. ́“And I saw as it were a sea of glass, mingled with fire.” It is impossible for any power of language adequately to describe the appearance_presented by the rising or the setting of the sun in the Ægean sea. Whether in dim perspective through gray enclosing mists, or amidst hues of liveliest purple, the isles and continent of Greece present their varied features, nor pen nor pencil can portray the scenery. Let the reader picture to his conception an evening sun behind the towering cliffs of Patmos, gilding the battlements of the monastery of the Apocalypse with its parting rays; the consecrated island surrounded by inexpressible brightness, seeming to float on an abyss of fire; while the moon in milder splendour is rising full over the opposite expanse. Such a scene I actually witnessed, with feelings naturally excited by all the circumstances of local solemnity; for such indeed might have been the face of nature, when the inspiration of an apostle, kindling in its contemplation, uttered the Alleluias of that mighty voice,* telling of salvation, and glory, and honour, and power. [Dr. Clark's Travels, p. ii. 194.] *Rev. xix. 1. "And after these things, I heard a great noise of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God." 275 PART VII. Swine-Dogs-Cats-Birds and Fowls clean and uncleanPoultry Eggs Peacocks-Turkies- Bustards -- ParQuails-Geese-Ducks DovesSparrows-Locusts-Beetles-Bees-Honey-Enemies to tridges Pheasants Agriculture: Lions-Bears-Leopards-Wolves-FoxesJackals-Wild Boars-Weasels-Rats-Ferrets-MolesBirds of Prey-Palmer-worms-Canker-worms-Caterpillars-Blasts Mildews. Fisheries-Whales Chalson Boats-Ships. - THE SWINE was an unclean animal among the Israelites, because, though it divided the hoof, yet it did not chew the cud, (Levit. xi. 7.) It is said, that they held the flesh of this animal in such detestation, that they would not so much as pronounce its name, but instead of it, said, that beast, that thing. In 2 Macc. vi. 18, &c. when old Eleazar was taken by the servants of Antiochus Epiphanes, he was vehemently urged to eat swine's flesh, or at least to pretend to taste it. They opened his mouth by force, to compel him to eat of it; but he chose rather to suffer death than to break the law of God, and give offence to the weaker people of his nation. Porphyry affirms, that the Hebrews and Phenicians abstained from pork, because there was none in the country. He might rather have said, there was none, or but very little, because they bred no hogs, by reason of the abhorrence they had conceived for them, for it is certain they might have had them, if they pleased; and that there were herds of swine, as many as 2000 in a herd, in our Saviour's time, is evident from Matt. viii. 30, 31. Mark v. 11. Dr. Doddridge, on this passage, supposes that they were bred to sell to the Romans, and says, "the laws of Hyrcanus had indeed prohibited the Jews from keeping swine, (which shews it had been much practised among them;) but these Gadarenes, who had so many Gentiles in the neighbourhood, having long been under the heathen government, (Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. xv. cap. 7. (al. 11.) §. 3., and Bell. Jud. lib. i. cap. 20. (al. 15.) §.3.,) and living in the extreme part of the country, presumed to do it, scandalous and illegal as the employment was. See Miracles of Jesus Vindicated, p. 34, 35." In addition to this, it may be said, that it is probable, from Levit xi. 7. Deut. xiv. 8. Prov. xi. 22. Is. lxv. 4. lxvi. 3, 17. and Matt. vii. 6., that swine were kept and well known among the Israelites; and though it was VOL. VII.-No. 14. U |