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eternal safety? For he was young, and exposed to powerful temptations; and the "good thing" which was in him might have melted away before the sunshine of prosperity, or been choaked by the cares of life and the allurements of pleasure and ambition. He was kept therefore from the peril. His early youth had been his appointed scene of trial; he had been enabled to overcome, and to endure to the end; and before he had advanced to manhood he was rescued from a world of change and temptation, and placed, as a pillar in the temple of God, to go out no more forever. Not, indeed, that the power and grace of God are ever wanting upon earth to protect any of his servants, who, feeling their own weakness, look up to Him for strength; but, taking the declarations of Scripture and the experience of life as we find them, and observing how many spring up fairly for a time but in some season of temptation fall away, we have abundant reason to bless God for all who have departed this life in his "faith, fear, and love," and have finally escaped those storms which have caused so many to make shipwreck of their faith.

On earth, also, the memory of this young prince was to be blessed. He was to come to the grave in peace, and to be mourned over by a bereaved and affectionate people, many of whom probably had hoped, that, some years hence, he should be the happy instrument of restoring the pure worship of God. It is true that posthumous honours, paid to the frail remains of the body after the spirit has fled, are of little consequence in themselves, and of none to the breathless dust; but since God was pleased, under the Jewish economy, to make use of earthly as well as spiritual rewards and punishments, he would not suffer even these lesser marks of respect and affection to be omitted. Abijah had honoured him, and he made the memory of Abijah to be honoured by man; whereas the bodies of his

idolatrous relatives were cast into the streets, so that, according to the prophecy," him that died of Jeroboam in the city, the dogs did eat; and him that died in the field the fowls of the air did eat; for the Lord had spoken it."

The example of this young man speaks powerfully to two classes of persons.

And, first, it addresses those who are commencing or continuing a Christian course of life under discouraging circumstances. Their disadvantages may be of various kinds-such as an evil education; the absence of early habits of religious observance; strong passions; powerful temptations; irreligious connexions; or peculiar difficulties in the way of procuring suitable spiritual instruction-but the example of Abijah proves that there can be no outward circumstances under which it is not possible for there to exist in the heart "some good thing towards the Lord God." We cannot, then, plead our disadvantages and temptations as an excuse for our wilful neglect of religion; nor ought we to be discouraged in our Christian course on account of them. Not unfrequently is it seen, that those who, like Abijah, have the fewest inducements of a worldly kind to assume a religious profession; those whose opportunities of instruction are the most scanty, and whose difficulties are the most formidable; acquire, in the end, the greatest consistency of character; exhibit the humblest life; enjoy most of "the love of God shed abroad in their hearts;" are least moved by temptations, least unsettled about points of debate and idle speculation, least dependent upon themselves, and least shaken from their faith and adherence to their Saviour. While, therefore, those whose religious advantages are great have much to be thankful for, and much to answer for; those whose advantages are more scanty have no cause for despair. As is their trial, so shall be their strength; for

he who wrought in the youthful Abijah some good thing towards his name, will never forsake any, however unfavourably circumstanced, who put their trust in him, and endeavour to walk in the ways of his commandments.

But still more powerfully does the example of this youthful servant of God appeal to those who, with every Christian privilege profusely heaped upon them, are still careless and unrepentant. How much will those have to give an account for, who have enjoyed the advantage of religious parents and instructors; who have heard the Scriptures read and explained from their childhood; who have attended the public worship of God; whose understanding is wellinformed respecting points of Christian faith and duty; and whose conscience bears a powerful witness concerning what is evil and what is good; but who, with so much that is good around them, shew nothing good within them, no anxiety for the salvation of their souls, no love for God, no wish to keep his commandments. How tormenting will be their remorse, when, at the last day, they behold the son of the wicked and idolatrous Jeroboam placed on the right hand of the throne of God, and themselves, notwithstanding their religious ancestry and Christian privileges, stationed on the left! How will the servants of God, in every former age, rise up in judgment against the present generation; for when were the means of religious instruction so abundant? when was religious education so easy to be obtained? when was the word of God so cheaply accessible? when were the outward difficulties in the way of a religious course so few? We are eminently among those servants who know their Lord's will, and who, if they neglect to do it, will be beaten with many stripes. We cannot plead ignorance; we cannot plead want of invitation; the voice of mercy sounds in our ears, "Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die;" the offer of pardon is free;

the way to the Father is open; the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin; the Holy Spirit is promised to all that ask him. How, then, shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?

For the Christian Observer. SCRIPTURAL ILLUSTRATIONS FROM MODERN TRAVELS, &C.

No. VI.

ISAIAH xiii. 14. It shall be as the chased roe.-Hunting antelopes, or roes, is a favourite Eastern diversion. The following is a particular and interesting account of the practice. "The day before Colonel B. left us, we rode together to view a species of hunting, which was to us both novel and singular. It is the employing the cheeta in the chase of the antelope. There were three of these cheetas lying down, each in a country cart, called a hackery; they were tied with a slip knot, and hoodwinked. When within about a hundred yards of a herd of antelopes, which he approaches with the greatest caution, the sheekaree, or huntsman, takes the hood off from one cheeta, and occasionally from two; turns his head towards the game, and loosens the slip knot. the animal instantly springs from the hakery, and makes toward the herd of antelopes, taking advantage of every bush between them which can for a moment conceal his approach, and invariably singling out the old buck as the object of his attack. If the cheeta can approach, undiscovered, sufficiently near to spring on the prey, he strikes it down with the force and ferocity of the tiger; but if, as is generally the case, the antelope discovers him at a little distance, he darts off with all the speed which an agony of terror can inspire, and the cheeta after him; but should the latter not overtake him in the first two or three hundred yards, he usually stops short, retreats to some neighbouring bush to conceal himself, and is then in so sulky a humour, that it requires

David choose the five smooth stones, with one of which he slew Goliath. It is remarkable that many smooth stones are to be found in the brook to this day, brought probably from a distance by the winter floods, though those we observed spread over the surrounding mountains are of an entirely different quality."— Ibid. p. 306.

2 Kings xx. 20. He made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city." In the dry season, the only water with which Jerusalem is supplied, excepting what is procured from its reservoirs for rain, comes from these cisterns, and is

caution for his keeper in approaching him to put on the hood and re-conduct him to the hakery. If the chase is successful (and we had an opportunity of seeing both cases) the cheeta seizes the poor antelope in his mouth, throws his fore paws round him, and there remains sucking his blood, until the keeper or huntsman comes up; who, in order to rescue the prey from his grasp, dips a piece of raw flesh in its blood, places it in a wooden bowl with a long handle, and offers it to the cheeta: while he is engaged in devouring this, a rope is fastened round his neck, and the prey gradually removed from his sight, until he can conducted there by an aqueduct, be again hoodwinked, and replaced also attributed to Solomon, which in his hakery."-Diary of a Tour has one remarkable peculiarity, through Southern India, Egypt, and namely, that whereas the Romans Palestine, by a Field Officer of Ca- and other nations of antiquity were valry, p. 159. ignorant of that great principle of hydraulics, the natural tendency of water to rise to its level-as appears from the useless though enormous expense attending the construction of their aqueducts, so as to carry water from hill to hill, by arches built on arches this conduit is never raised on arches at all, but continues generally either subterraneous, or even with the ground, and in several parts of its course decidedly ascends the hills.”—Ibid. p. 313.

1 Sam. iv. 13. And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the way side, watching. This station was chosen by Eli as best adapted to his circumstances: but it might also be in conformity to a prevailing custom, such situations being open and public. Thus we find a similar place used for the administration of justice. "I drank the usual cup of coffee, and, having taken my leave with as little ceremony as was shewn me, I set off for the pacha's palace, where his delegate transacts business. He was seated outside the gate, on a fallen stone, and was engaged in judging, and ultimately sentencing, an Arab peasant, a very old man, for wounding a tame pigeon."-Ibid. p. 232.

1 Sam. xvii. 40. And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook."The chapel belonging to the convent is built over that part of the house where John Baptist is said to have been born: and the village itself stands on the mountain occupied by the Israelites when the Philistines from the neighbouring mountain to the westward defied the armies of the living God. The brook between them is that of Elah, whence

John vi. 10. And Jesus said, Make the men sit down ; now there was much grass in the place." Our route continued to lead us through a country generally mountainous; and when we were within five miles of Tiberias, we visited the spot where our Saviour is said to have delivered his sermon on the mount. There is a granite rock rising four feet above the summit of a sloping hill, against which tradition asserts that he leaned his back as he spoke. If it be true, he must have faced the north, with ancient Bethulia towering on an opposite mountain; and to the East he commanded a beautiful prospect of the Galilean sea, and the mountains which environ it. From the west and south the

ground descends as far as the rock, with so gentle an inclination as to be almost a plain; and there is much grass in the place; so much so, that it is to the neighbourhood of this very spot that the modern Pachas of Acre annually send their horses to graze."-Ibid. p. 294.

Esther v. 2. So Esther drew near and touched the top of the sceptre. -Permission to do this intimated favour. By the following extract it appears that a custom in a degree analogous to this is still prevalent. A late traveller, after describing a Moorish encampment, adds: "The interval between the two horns of the half-moon is occupied by the bey's horses, by two of the pacha's standards, and by eight bronze pieces of artillery, mounted upon most clumsy and unwieldy carriages: between the pacha's standards are displayed two immense banners of the Prophet, constantly guarded by two scheriffs; and between the banners is fixed the staff of authority. This symbol of sovereignty is sent by the Grand Signor to the Pacha, and is considered as conveying an emanation of the supreme power of the Sublime Porte. Whenever any adventurer succeeds in overturning the government of a pacha, and usurping his power and title, the Grand Signor hastens to send him the staff of authority, in order that, notwithstanding his incapacity to depose him, the long-established notion, that the exercise of the sovereign power can proceed only from the Porte, may remain in undisputed force. Any malefactor, be his crime what it may, who can contrive to reach and touch this staff, is safe from punishment." - Dr. P. de Cella's Narrative of an Expedition from Tripoli to Egypt, in 1817, p.12.

Ezekiel xiii. 11. Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower. To such houses as are described in the following extract, the Prophet here doubtless alludes: a heavy rain necessarily occasions their destruc

tion. "The town of Mesurata is not composed of contiguous masses of houses, as in Europe, but consists of scattered habitations, separated by gardens, and most wretchedly constructed: for they are small dwellings, not more than ten feet high, fabricated with pebbles cemented with mud; the roof being nothing but palm leaves and straw interwoven, laid upon rafters, and daubed over with a mixture of mud. These houses fall to pieces before the rainy season is over."—Ibid. p. 42.

Gen. 1. 1-14. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father." At the celebrated ceremony of the pole-pulling, the family connexions assemble from a great distance; and, when they are particular in observing the ancient customs, they spend two or three days and nights in solemn preparation and previous rites. They then all endeavour to take hold of some part of the poles, which they pluck up and throw behind them without looking, moving backward toward the East. They then feast together, and disperse to their several homes. It was impossible to hear this simple recital without thinking of the account in Gen. 1. 1-14."-Journey among the NorthAmerican Indians,by Adam Hodgson, Esq. in Missionary Register for Dec. 1821, p. 526.

Gen. xxxii. 32. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day.In a journey which Mr. Hodgson took among the North-American Indians, he was hospitably entertained at the house of a Choctaw. He says, "We found him sitting before the door, watching the gambols of fifty or sixty of his horses, who were frolicking before him and of more than two hundred very fine cattle, which, at sun-set, were coming up as usual, of their own accord, from different parts of the surrounding forest, where they have

;

a boundless and luxuriant range. The whole scene reminded me strongly of pastoral and patriarchal times. He had chosen this situation, he said, for its retirement (in some directions he had no neighbours for fifty or a hundred miles), and because it afforded him excellent pasturage and water for his cattle. He added, that occupation would give him and his family a title to it as long as they chose. He told me that they had an obscure story, somewhat resembling that of Jacob wrestling with an Angel; and that the full-blooded Indians always separate the sinew which shrank, and that it is never seen in the venison exposed for sale. He did not know what they did with it. His elder brother, whom I afterwards met, told me that they eat it as a rarity. But I have also heard, though on less respectable authority, that they refrain from it, like the ancient Jews. A gentleman, who had lived on the Indian frontier, or in the nation, for ten or fifteen years, told me that he had often been surprised that the Indians always detached this sinew, but it had never occurred to him to inquire the reason."-Ibid. p. 530.

Prov. ix. 14, 15. She sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, to call passengers who go right on their ways." Gheneh is the only place in Egypt where we saw women decked out in all their finery, to catch the passing traveller. They were of all nations, and of all complexions, and were regularly licensed, as in many parts of Europe. Some of them were highly painted, and gorgeously attired with costly necklaces, rings in their noses and in their ears, and bracelets on their wrists and arms. They sat at the door of their houses, and called on the passengers as they went by, in the same manner as we find them described in the book of Proverbs. Nothing could be more hideous and disgusting than such an array; even they themselves seemed conscious

of their degradation."-Richardson's Travels along the Mediterranean, vol. i. p. 260.

Matt. viii. 20. The Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.— This expression has been interpreted as meaning that he had literally no home of his own: but considerable light is thrown upon it by two passages from the Arabic History of Abulpharagius; in the first of which, having stated that Saladin had animated his soldiers to the storming of Tyre, he says, That no place now remained to the Franks where they could lay their head, except Tyre. And again, after relating that the Arabs had stormed Acca, or Ptolemais, he says, That no place was left to the Franks on the coast of this (the Mediterranean) sea, where they could lay their head.-Historia, p. 406, 591. From these two passages it would appear that the meaning of the Evangelist is, that Jesus Christ had no secure and fixed place of residence.

Deut. xxi. 4-9. And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown...and all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer.-The holding of public conventions in the open air was not peculiar to the East. In the days of Ina, king of the West Saxons, who, according to Sir H. Spelman, began to reign Ann. 712, and died 727, councils in England were generally held in open fields, on the bank of some river, for the convenience of water. This custom, we find from Matt. Westm. (ad An. 1215) continued even to the time of King John, in whose 17th year a famous parliament was held in a meadow between Staines and Windsor, called Runemed, "the Mead of Counsel," or " of the Council," from the Saxon word roedan, "to consult."-Hody's Eng. Coun. p. 34.

Judges ix. 6. And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain

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