surrounded by those whose desire was to entrap him in the course of his ministry, to hear something that might give them an opportunity of persecution or revenge. Now as the great aim of the Saviour was not to irritate but to conciliate, be generally chose to veil his doctrines under such language, and to give them in such a form as could least offend.

To the multitudes therefore he spake in parables; and thus without raising any prejudice, or start. ing any difficulty, he led them onwards in the paths of life. The same method was pursued by St. Paul, with respect to the Corinthians: I could not, says he, speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto curnal, even as unto babes in Christ— I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it.

Now a better way of carrying this purpose into effect could not be imagined than by parables. Let us take the parable before us. The story is simple, short, and natural; it would command the attention, and fix itself in the memory. Coming from a teacher of religion, it would of course be considered as containing more than should at first have met the ear. And hence would appear the end and purpose of the whole, in the manner in which it would affect the mind of the hearers. If their attention was not exerted, if their interest was not excited, any farther instruction would have little chance of success. Seeing they would not see, and hearing they would not understand. But if on the contrary, the parable should lead them to the interpretation, if it should reuse the desire to hear more, and to see farther, how much would be accomplished? Their eyes would begin to open, and their ears to hear; their prejudices would abate, and their hearts give way, and thus gradually trained and prepared for better things, they would hereafter readily receive and under

stand the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.

Just and merciful then is the Almighty both in what he reveals, and in what he hides from our eyes. In this our infant state, God often speaks to us, as he did to the multitudes of old, in parables-in parables practical and moral. The ehanging scenes of the world around us, the awful events which daily occur before our eyes, a thousand circumstances in the lives both of ourselves and others, are so many practical parables delivered to us by our great Moral Teacher and Governor. This is the language in which God speaks to mankind; but against such lessons how often do we close our understandings and our hearts, seeing we will not see, and hearing we will not understand. To those whose hearts are prepared by meditation and humility, as to the disciple of old, it is given to know these mysteries of the kingdom of God. To know them not with the full range of perfect vision, but as through a glass darkly. To these, however, enough is shewn to strengthen their confidence, to ani. mate their hope, and to guide their feet over the apparently trackless desart of life, to the city of eternal rest and peace.

Such then were the reasons which induced our Lord to instruct the multitude in parables; and thus gently to instil into their hearts the knowledge and the desire of his heavenly Gospel. A better instance of this could not be taken than the parable before us. Had he, without any preparation, in plain and simple language, uttered the opinions, which this parable implies, how much prejudice would have been excited, how much offence eonceived by every class of his hearers, even at the very commencement of his ministry. How many, as upon a later occasion, would have walked no more with him. With us, to whom, as Christians, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God,

I trust there is not the same danger. And yet, Christians as we are, we do not like to be told too plainly, even from this place of general instruction, of our wanderings from the path of duty. But with the parable and the interpretation before us, can we close our eyes, or if we could, can we close those of our Maker and our Redeemer? He that planteth the eye, shall he not see? Let us then, without fear of selfoffence, fairly look to our hearts and lives, and say to which of the four states in the parable we belong. For to every one of us does the Redeemer cry, as he did to the múltitudes of old, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. For of the seed sown in our hearts, and of the harvest, which that seed ought to produce, we must hereafter give a fearful account.

Are we among those by the way side? The seed may be sown, but if the soil is too hard or too trodden down to receive it, that seed must perish. Many indeed there are, in whose heart the word of God has not even for a moment taken root. They hear, but it is without understanding and without concern. They hear, not because they like it, but because they cannot avoid it. They neglect every warning, and stifle every thought of a world to come, just as if in that world, they had neither interest nor share. Whether men call themselves infidels or Christians, the rejection is practically the same, and arises from the same cause, from a hardened, selfish, and proud heart. Yet can they imagine that God will sow the seed, and not require an account of the harvest; are the words of life of so little value, as to be abandoned to the evil angels of infidelity or indifference. If not, if there be an account, let them not lose a moment in preparing for it. The seed of life never faileth. Christ is yet ready, again and again, to sow his eternal Word: itis for us then, by humiliation, by prayer, and

by an anxious desire for this our dearest interest, to prepare the heart for its reception.

Are we among those on the rock? We have received the word of God with joy; we think it a privilege to call ourselves Christians. Yet it does not appear that we are much the better for this holy profession. For a time, and that too often a very short one, we go on tolerably well; but when temptation comes, we fall away, our faith and hope languish, our innocence retreats, and little more than an unprofitable name remains. The goodly plant, which should spring up and flourish unto the harvest of life withereth away; and why, because it lacketh moisture. The rocky soil of man's heart is but ill calculated to nourish and sustain the seed of life. Whence then is the moisture to proceed; not from ourselves, or from the broken eisterns of our weak nature; but from those streams that flow from the throne of God. It is the grace of God, daily and hourly distilling into our souls as the dew of heaven, which alone can give that moisture so necessary to the growth of piety and virtue, How many instances are there in the experience which each of us has of himself, when the good resolutions which we have made, and the good lessons which we have learnt, wither away, and bring no fruit; because God and his grace are not with us. And why are they not with us? because we are too negligent or too proud to ask. God never yet refused his grace and protection to humble and repeated prayer. Knowing then how much we want, and how little we have; knowing that without the influence of God's refreshing grace, the good seed will bring forth no fruit, let us, in the words of the Psalmist, resolve O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee. My soul also thirsteth after thee, my flesh longeth after thee in a barren and dry land, where no water is,

LIONS.

Judges xiv. 5.

"Then went Samson down and his father and his mother to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath, and behold a young lion roared against him."

Jeremiah 1. 44.

"Behold he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong."

THE part of Arabia joining upon Asia breeds vast multitudes of exceeding great wild beasts; for the lions and leopards here are far more in number and larger and stronger than in Africa, to which may be added those they call the Babylonian tigers.-Diod. Siculus, B. 2. ch. 4.

The lake Macon, which we left on our left hand, is occasioned by the abundance of waters that flow down from Mount Libanus, about the beginning of the spring, when the warm west wind thaws it; and yet this same mountain in the sum→ mer time is scorched up by the sun. Because of the overflowing of the waters, there grow here abundance of reeds; trees, thorns, &c. that make an echoing wood, where the bears, lions, and other beasts of prey, find both food and shelter; and here they say the king uses to hunt. At these waters it is, according to Joshua, xi. 1. that Jabin king of Hasor, with many of his confederate princes, met, where Joshua attacked and the Lord des livered them into his hand.-Travels of Martin Baumgarten, Churchill's Coll. Vol. i. p. 475.

Bell, in his account of Persia, makes frequent mention of lions, At the Court of Ispahan, when ap. proaching to the ball of audience, he saw two chained to the ground, one on each side of the passage;

of gold, filled with water for drink. Next to the lions stood an elephant with a keeper on his back. As the ambassador passed, both the lions couched, and the elephant bent his fore knee at a word pronounced by the keepers.-Bell's Travels, Vol. i. p. 100.

Both sides of the Jordan are bordered by a forest of tufted trees, which grow so closely in some parts, that they are impenetrable to the rays of the sun. This forest, like that in the neighbourhood of Lake Samochon, is the retreat of tigers, which sometimes carry desolation to the surrounding country. I was told that there were a great many lions here; but I am convinced that this is a mistake. It is true that they abounded here in the time of Jeremiah, but there is every reason to suppose that they have since retired to some places more commodious for them.-Mariti's Travels, Vol. ii. p. 365.

Again, (Vol. iii. p. 117,) Mariti adds upon this subject. Near the desert of Tekoa lay that of Bethlehem, which was an immense wil derness, abounding with wild beasts. "The desert of Bethlehem," says Adricomius, "was a vast wilderness, frequented by lions, bears, and other wild beasts." I have already re marked, that no lions are to be met with at present in Palestine. They must therefore have been driven from that country, since St. Jerome and other writers give us clearly to understand that they were formerly found there in great plenty.

"At four this morning we parted from the bank which was on the Chaldæan side, the people being afraid of stopping on the Mesopotamian side, on account of tigers and lions, which many people in this vessel declared to have secu often,

and related several fatal accidents which had happened to persons who had remained on shore after it was dark, or moored their vessels to the banks at night. I did not wonder to hear of tigers, as they are com. mon in Asia; but as I never until now had heard of their having lions, I seemed surprized, which the Turks observing, many of the most credible declared they had frequently seen them come down to the banks of the river, and as they described a lion accurately, I have no doubt of the truth. They relate that they are more frequent on the banks of the Tigris than on this river; and that they are only in Mesopotamia, as they have never been seen on the Persian side of the Tigris, nor on the Chaldæan side of the Euphrates."-Parsons' Travels in Asia and Africa.

Mr. Parsons is probably wrong respecting the tiger, as the royal or large tiger is rarely met with in any other part than the plains of Hindostan. The small hunting tiger and leopard may have occasioned the mistake. The statement here given of the lion is confirmed by Tournefort and Mr. Bell, who at the same time acknowledge that it is seldom to be met with west of the Euphrates; their accounts, how ever, all tend to prove its existence in the neighbourhood, if not actually in Palestine, and the objection therefore to its present non-existence is in a manner set aside. We have frequent instances of the scarcity of many animals in countries where once they were known to be numerous. The stork and the wolf are Row no longer to be met with in England, though formerly abundant. The same diligence exerted in the destruction of the former in our own country, may have had a similar effect in a country once so populous as Canaan. In proof of this, it is to be observed that it is only in the early periods of the Old Testament that we hear of them as patives of the soil. In the New Tes

Lucian describes a charmer of serpents, on the authority of a person named Iom,-who says, early one morning I saw a Chaldæan walk thrice round a certain place, and after purifying it with torches and sulphur, pronounce seven holy words out of an ancient book, which immediately drove out all the serpents that were within that circle: drawn by his incantation, there came about him innumerable asps, vipers, and snakes of all descriptions. One old serpent, indeed, staid behind; the magician however sent the youngest serpent after him, and when he had gathered them all together, the Ba bylonian blew upon them, and they were all consumed,

Conjurors are common in Egypt, They are peasants from the country, who come to Cairo to earn money this way. I saw one who was expert enough, and in dexterity equalled those we have in Europe; but the Egyptians can do one thing the Europeans are not able to imitatenamely, fascinate serpents. They take the most poisonous vipers with their bare hands, play with them, put them in their bosoms, and use a great many more tricks with them,