away all the ancient forms and es tablishments in the deluge of the Revolution. There can be no doubt but that the Bishop of Meaux was sincere in desiring, and active in promoting, as far as his individual influence extended, a reformation of manners in his own church. But with him, the preservation of ecclesiastical unity was the main point; and other objects, however desirable, were of subordinate importance. With all his penetration, he perceived not the intimate connexion which subsists between gross ignorance and superstition, and a dreadful laxity of morals. The Church of Rome has certainly lost some of her dross, by the fire of the Protestant secession; but, before she can be thoroughly purified, she must be renewed and rectified in doctrine. She must shake off the excrescences of those pernicious and unscriptural tenets which have a tendency to sap the vitals of all practical religion. Bossuet, upon the whole, was one of those characters, in which intellectual gifts and attainments may be said to occupy the fore-ground of the picture, and to form that part of it which most forcibly rivets the attention of the spectator. We never hesitate with respect to his learning or acuteness. We sometimes do more than hesitate with respect to the purity of his motives, and the rectitude of his conduct. His sincerity indeed, according to the popular acceptation of that word, was unquestionable. But it is not quite so clear that he always dealt faithfully with his conscience, in the choice of expedients for the attainment of his objects. He appears to have acted too frequently under an impression that the end might sanctify the means; a principle which has proved instrumental, beyond any other cause, in building up the fabric of popish error and superstition. Still, looking to the general tenor of his life, to his pious studies, to his disinterestedness, to his irreproachable morals and contempt of worldly grandeur, in the midst of a voluptuous court, and, above all, to his unwearied diligence and activity in his pastoral and episcopal functions, we can hardly, I think, without a defect of charity, dispute his title to be considered a real, though often inconsistent, disciple of the Saviour. Let us follow his example in whatever instances it may appear conformable to the Christian character, and carefully shun it, wheresoever it is found wrong, inconsistent, or questionable. When we reflect upon his talents and his virtues, we cannot but lament that they were not embarked in a better cause. He is an adversary whom, with all his errors, we must still respect and admire. Were he now living, we might be tempted to address him with that mixture of esteem and disapprobation, which is implied in the well known sentence-"Talis cum sis, utinam noster esses." F. SCRIPTURAL ILLUSTRATIONS FROM MODERN TRAVELS.-NO. V. 2 KINGS v. 17. "And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth?"—"On their return, my muleteer, as an offering of gratitude, presented me some sacred cakes, made of the earth which had borne the tent of their martyr(Hossein), and which are kept in a sort of sanctuary, near the entrance of his tomb, being close to the spot where he was assassinated. The earth, even in its simple state, is purchased with avidity by the pilgrims, and is said to possess the most miraculous properties."-Sir R. K. Porter's Travels in Persia, vol. ii. p. 281. Isaiah xiii. 21. "But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there."—" In my second visit to Birs Nimrood, while passing rapidly over the last tracks of the ruin-spread ground, at some little distance from the outer bank of its quadrangular boundary, my party suddenly halted, having descried several dark objects moving along the summit of its hill, which they construed into dismounted Arabs on the look-out, while their armed brethren must be lying concealed under the southern brow of the mound. Thinking this very probable, I took out my glass to examine, and soon distinguished that the causes of our alarm were two or three majestic lions, taking the air upon the heights of the pyramid. Perhaps I never had beheld so sublime a picture to the mind, as well as to the eye. These were a species of enemy which my party were accustomed to dread without any panic fear; and while we continued to advance, though slowly, the hallooing of the people, made the noble beasts gradually change their position, till, in the course of twenty minutes, they to tally disappeared. We then rode close up to the ruins; and I had once more the gratification of ascending the awful sides of the tower of Babel. In my progress I stopped several times to look at the broad prints of the feet of the lions, left plainly in the clayey soil; and, by the track, I saw that if we had chosen to rouse such royal game, we need not go far to find their lair. But, while thus actually contemplating these savage tenants, wandering amidst the towers of Babylon, and bedding themselves within the deep cavities of her once magnificent temple, I could not help reflecting on how faithfully the va rious prophecies had been fulfilled, which relate, in the Scriptures, to the utter fall of Babylon, and abandonment of the place; verifying, in fact, the very words of Isaiah, Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there,' &c."-Ibid. vol. ii. p. 387. Ruth iii. 9. "And he said, Who art thou? and she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman."This peculiar ceremony was designed as a recognition and acknow ledgment of affinity, and of the du " About ties connected with it. two o'clock we came to an encampment, where it was resolved to rest ourselves. One of my guides, in taking off the luggage, placed my gun in such a situation, intentionally, that unless I had snatched it up, the camel would have knelt upon it, and broken it. The chief came out to welcome us, and led me into his tent: he then stooped to the ground, and spreading out the bosom of his skirt, said to me, Son of my uncle, if thou hast nothing else to sleep on, thou shalt rest thee here."-Sir F. Henniker's Notes during a Visit to Egypt, Nubia, &c. p. 261. Job xxxi. 26, 27. "If I beheld the sun when it shined, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand." "When once an Arab has given his faith, his hospitality is inviolable. We sat down cross-legged; coffee was prepared: the Arabs swore by the sun that we were safe, and offered to conduct us to their encamp ment at the Roman mountain, Djibbel Romano."-Ibid. p. 41. Matt. x. 13. "If the house be worthy, let your peace come upon says, Those readers who have seen Sir F. Henniker's work will not think it of much importance to inquire what the author intends by this unfounded charge of inconsistency in our Lord's doctrine. Matt. xxii. 12. "And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment?"-Bythe following statement it will appear how peculiarly necessary it was, and still is, to possess, in the East, what may be termed a dress of ceremony for special occasions. "There is a vulgar rumour, that, when a Christian wishes for an audience, a message is delivered to the Grand Signor, setting forth, that a dog, naked and hungry, begs to be admitted: to which is given this reply, Clothe him, and feed him, and bring him in. The pelisse is a badge of honour in Turkey, the same as the garter or court robes are in England.. But perhaps the humiliating expression of clothing may arise from the nature of the Frank's dress, which is considered by the Turks as no dress at all. It is reckoned indecent, in the short oriental or Mameluke costume, to make an ordinary visit without that outer garment which covers one like a college gown."-Ibid. p. 325. Luke x. 30. "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves."-The following narration furnishes a good illustration of this passage: "About eight o'clock in the morning a janissary was in waiting. Having been repeatedly assured that there was no danger on this side Jericho, and scarcely believing that there was any on the other, I had resolved upon having no other attendant. I was at the same time provided with a letter to the governor of Jericho, commanding him to furnish me with an escort. As we were on the point of starting, Nicholai expressed a wish to see the Jordan: a horse was procured he girded on his sword, and with my fowling-piece in his hand, we sallied forth. The route is over hills, rocky, barren, and uninteresting. We arrived at a fountain, and here my two attendants paused to refresh themselves: the day was so hot that I was anxious to finish the journey, and hurried forwards. A ruined building, situated CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 258. on the summit of a hill, was now within sight, and I urged my horse towards it; the janissary galloped by me, and, making signs for me not to precede him, he rode into and round the building, and then motioned me to advance. We came next to a hill, through the very apex of which has been cut a passage, the rocks overhanging it on either side. I was in the act of passing through this ditch, when a bullet whizzed by, close to my head: I saw no one, and had scarcely time to think, when another was fired, some short distance in advance. I could yet see no one; the janissary was yet beneath the brow of the hill, in his descent: I looked back, but my servant was not yet within sight. I looked up, and within a few inches of my head were three muskets, and three men taking aim at me. Escape or resistance was alike impossible: I got off my horse. Eight men jumped down from the rocks, and commenced a scramble for me: I observed also a party running towards Nicholai. At this moment the janissary galloped in among us with his sword drawn, I knew that if blood were spilt, I should be sacrificed, and I called upon him to fly. He wounded one man that had hold of me: I received two violent blows, intended, I believe, for him. From the effect of one I was protected by my turban: I was not armed. The janissary cut down another Arab, and all the rest scrambled up the rocks. The janissary turned his horse, and rode off, calling on me to follow him, which I did on foot. In the mean time the Arabs prepared their matchlocks, and opened a fire upon us, but only few of their shots came very near. We had advanced about a league, when two of the banditti made a show of cutting us off. A sudden panic seized the janissary: he cried on the name of the prophet, and galloped away. I called out to him that there were but two; that with his sword and pistols, if we stooped behind a stone, we 2 Z could kill them both. He rode back towards the Arabs: they had guns, and the poor fellow returned full speed. As he passed, I caught at a rope hanging from his saddle: I had hoped to have leaped upon his horse, but found myself unable: my feet were dreadfully lacerated by the honey-combed rocks. Nature would support me no longer: I fell, but still clung to the rope in this manner I was drawn some few yards, till, bleeding from my ancle to my shoulder, I resigned myself to my fate. As soon as I stood up, one of my pursuers took aim at me; but the other casually advancing between us, prevented his firing: he then ran up, and with his sword aimed such a blow as would not have required a second: his companion prevented its full effect, so that it merely cut my ear in halves, and and laid open one side of my face: they then stripped me naked." Ibid. p. 284. Deut. xxxiii. 17. "His glory is like the firstling of his bullock." In the comparison of the tribe of Joseph to the firstling of a bullock, the point of resemblance is strength and power. Mr. Brown (Journey to Dar Fûr, chap. i.) has recorded a similar figure, which is in use at the present time at the court of the sultan, where, during public audiences, a kind of hired encomiast stands at the monarch's right hand, crying out, "See the buffalo, the offspring of a buffalo, the bull of bulls, the elephant of superior strength, the powerful sultan Abdel-rachmân-al-rashid." 1 Sam. xx. 30. "Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman.” Whether the archon was drunk or mad, or only malicious, we could not exactly discover, but he shut and locked his door very securely, and then, putting his head out of an upper window, sent forth a volley of execrations on us, and all who belonged to us, that all the "dogs" and "beasts" with which Mustapha return ed the abuse were useless. Signor Demetrio, in the true language of the East, continued to describe the indignities with which he would treat not only ourselves, but our mothers before they were married, our sisters before they were born, the creed of our dogs, and such elegant Grecian expressions."-Narrative of a Journey in the Morea, by Sir William Gell, p. 190. Gen. xlix. 9. "He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion."-The warlike character, and the conquests of the tribe of Judah are here prophetically described; but the full force of the passage will not be perceived, without observing that a lion or lioness, when lying down after satisfying its hunger, will not attack any person. Mr. Park (Travels in Africa, p. 207. 4to.) has recorded his providential escape from a lion so circumstanced, which he saw lying near the road, and passed unhurt. Though he is not a sufficiently recent traveller to come strictly within the scope of these extracts, I shall avail myself of the incident. "As we were crossing a large open plain, where there were a few scattered bushes, my guide, who was a little way before me, wheeled his horse round in a moment, calling out something in the Foulah lan guage, which I did not understand. I inquired in Mandingo what he meant. Wara billi billi, a very large lion,' said he, and made signs for me to ride away: but my horse was too much fatigued, so we rode slowly past the bush from which the animal had given us the alarm. Not seeing any thing myself, however, I thought my guide had been mistaken, when the Foulah suddenly put his hand to his mouth, exclaiming, Soubah an Allahi, God preserve us:' and to my great surprize I then perceived a large red lion, at a short distance from the bush, with his head couched between his fore paws. I expected he would instantly spring upon me, and instinctively pulled my feet from my stirrups, to throw myself on the ground, that. my horse might become the victim rather than myself. But it is probable the lion was not hungry; for he quietly suffered us to pass, though we were fairly within his reach, My eyes were so rivetted upon this sovereign of the beasts, that I found it impossible to remove them, until we were at a considerable distance." Gen. ii. 19. "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air."-The reader will not be displeased with the following illustration, though, like the last, it is a little perhaps out of date. "Beasts of prey are absolutely necessary. But for them, the earth would be infested with cadaverous substances. There perishes annually by natural death the twentieth part at least of quadrupeds; the tenth part of fowls; and an indefinite number of insects, as most of their species live only one year, some one day, others but a few hours. As the rains convey these spoils of death to the rivers, and thence to the seas, the whole amphibious race seem created expressly for clearing such situations. There also most of the ferocious animals descend by night from the mountains to hunt for their prey. But it is in hot countries especially, where the effects of corruption are most rapid and most dangerous, that Providence has multiplied the carniverous animals. Tribes of lions, tigers, leopards, panthers, civet cats, ounces, jackals, hyenas, condors, &c. resort thither to reinforce those of wolves, foxes, martens, otters, vultures, crows, &c. Legions of voracious crabs are nestled in their sands; the caimans and the crocodiles lie in ambush among their reeds: shell fish of innumerable species armed with utensils fit for sucking,piercing, filing, bruising, roughen the face of the rocks, and pave the borders of their seas: clouds of sea fowls hover with a loud noise over their shallows, or sail round and round at the discretion of the waves in quest of food; the lamprey, the becune, the carang, and the whole species of cartilaginous fishes, which live only on flesh, swim there in crowds, constantly employed in devouring the wreck of bodies thrown on the shore. There also, more than in cooler climes, the insect legions hasten the consumption of putrifying bodies. The wasps, furnished with scissars, cut asunder the fleshy parts: the flies pump out the fluids: the seaworms cut in pieces the bones, These last on the southern coasts, and especially at the mouths of ri vers, are in such prodigious quantities, and armed with augers so formidable, that they are capable of devouring a ship of war in less time than it took to build her."- St. Pierre's Studies of Nature, vol. i. p. 304. S. B. FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CLXXIV. Job xxxiii. 14.—God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. How astonishing are such declarations as this! In human affairs men generally expect the offending party to make the first overtures of peace; and they often think it not much, where the offence has been great, if the injured person shews some degree of suspicion in listening to the offers of accommodation. But in our intercourse with the Almighty, it would seem as though this expectation were reversed. Man the offender stands stoutly impenitent, while God condescends to make offers of peace; the Judge supplicates, and the guilty prisoner continues obstinate; the Sovereign proposes reconciliation to the convicted and powerless rebel, while the latter, convicted and powerless as he is, refuses to return to his allegiance, and to be received under the favour and protection of his gracious Prince. A large part of the Bible seems written to convince us, that if we perish, it is wholly in consequence of our own sin and folly; that God |