in the East; but ornaments are relinquished, the usual dress is neglected, or it is laid aside and one coarse or old assumed in its place. Our woodcut represents one of the haircloth penitential dresses worn by the early devotees, designed after the old church prints of Italy.-DR. KITTO.

Proverbs xii. 8.-"A MAN SHALL BE COMMENDED ACCORDING TO HIS WISDOM."

2021. Power of Knowledge and Force of Example.-The following extracts from Smiles' "Life of George Stephenson" illustrates the importance of a knowledge of the natural laws, and their prompt application in dangerous circumstances, and also shows how the noble example of one man will ofttimes incite others to tread in his steps:

One day, in the year 1814, a workman hurried into Stephenson's cottage with the startling information that the deepest main of the colliery was on fire! He immediately hastened to the pit-head, about a hundred yards off, whither the women and children of the colliery were running, with wildness and terror depicted in every face.

In a commanding voice Stephenson ordered the engine-man to lower him down the shaft in the corve. There was danger, it might be death, before him, but he must go.

He was soon at the bottom, and in the midst of the men, who were paralyzed at the danger which threatened the lives of all in the pit. Leaping from the corve on its touching the ground, he called out, "Are there six men among you who have the courage to follow me? If so, come, and we will put the fire out." The Killingworth pitmen had the most perfect confidence in their engine-wright, and they readily volunteered to follow him. Silence succeeded the frantic tumult of the previous minute, and the men set to work with a will. In every mine, bricks, mortar, and tool enough are at hand, and by Stephenson's direction the materials were forthwith carried to the required spot, where, in a very short time, a wall was raised at the entrance to the main, he himself taking the most active part in the work. The atmospheric air was by this means excluded, the fire was extinguished, most of the people in the pit were saved from death, and the mine was preserved.

James ii. 15-17.-"IF A BROTHER OR SISTER BE NAKED, AND DESTITUTE OF DAILY FOOD, AND ONE OF YOU SAY UNTO THEM, DEPART IN PEACE, BE YE WARMED AND FILLED; NOTWITHSTANDING YE GIVE THEM NOT THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE NEEDFUL TO THE BODY; WHAT DOTH IT PROFIT? EVEN SO FAITH, IF IT HATH NOT WORKS, IS DEAD, BEING ALONE.

lived a poor

2022. Practical Prayer.-In the vicinity of Bbut industrious man, depending for support upon his daily labour. His wife fell sick, and not being able to hire a nurse, he was obliged to confine himself to the sick bed and the family. His means of support being thus cut off, he soon found himself in need. Having a wealthy neighbour near, he determined to go and ask for two bushels of wheat, with a promise to pay as soon as his wife became so much better that he could leave her and return to his work. Accordingly, he took his bag, went to his neighbour's, and arrived while the family were at morning prayers. As he sat on the doorstone, he heard the man pray very earnestly that God would clothe the naked, feed the hungry, relieve the distressed, and comfort all that mourn. The prayer concluded, the poor man stepped in and made known his business, promising to pay with the avails of his first labours. The farmer was very sorry he could not accommodate him, for he had promised to lend a large sum of money, and had depended upon his wheat to make it out; but he presumed Neighbour would let him have it.

With a tearful eye and a sad heart the poor man turned away. As soon as he left the house, the farmer's little son stepped up and said, "Father, did you not pray that God would clothe the naked, feed the hungry, relieve the distressed, and comfort mourners ? " "Yes; why?"

"Because if I had your wheat I would answer that prayer."

It is needless to add that the Christian father called back his suffering neighbour, and gave him as much as he needed.

Ecclesiastes x. 16.-" WOE TO THEE, O LAND

EAT IN THE MORNING!"

2023. Eating in the Morning.-It is considered unmanly in Samoa to eat early in the morning. It is even the language of abuse to hint that a person does so. It is like comparing him to a pig, which is fed the first thing in the morning.-Turner's Polynesia.

Acts ix. 25.-"THEN THE DISCIPLES TOOK HIM BY NIGHT, AND LET HIM DOWN BY THE WALL IN A BASKET."

2021. Paul's Escape at Damascus.—We read that the Jews at Damascus sought to kill Paul, and "watched the gates day and night" for that purpose; but "the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket." In 2 Cor. xi. 33 the apostle says that he was let down in a basket through a window by the wall. How do these two expressions stand related to each other? The common view is, that the house where Paul was secreted was built on the wall, with a window overhanging it; so that he could be said, as in the Acts, to have been let down "by the wall," without any reference to the house, or as in Corinthians to have been let down "through a window by the wall." Compare Josh. ii. 15 and 1 Sam. xix. 12. I saw houses built in this manner on the walls in some of the Eastern cities. But there is room for another explanation. A few steps to the left of Bab-es-Shurkeh, the gate on the east side of Damascus, I observed two or three windows in the external face of the wall, opening into houses on the inside of the city. If Paul was let down through such a window (which belongs equally to the house and the wall), it would be still more exact to interchange the two expressions; that is, we could say, as in the Acts, that he escaped "by the wall," or, as in the epistle, that he escaped "through a window by the wall." As I stood with a friend who resided at Damascus, looking at the place referred to, a couple of men came to the top of the wall with a broad, flat basket, full of rubbish, which they emptied over the wall. "Such a basket," said my friend, "the people use here for almost every sort of thing. If they are digging a well, and wish to send a man down into it, they put him into such a basket; and that those who aided Paul's escape should have used a basket for the purpose was entirely natural, according to the present customs of the country. Judging from what is done now, it is the only sort of vehicle of which men would be apt to think under such circumstances." Pilgrims are admitted into the monastery at Mount Sinai in a similar manner. A rope, with a basket attached to it, is let down from a window or door, about thirty feet above the ground. Those who are to ascend seat themselves, one after another, in this basket, and are thus drawn up by means of a pulley or windlass turned by those in the convent.-PROFESSOR HACKETT.

Judges ix. 51.-"BUT THERE WAS A STRONG TOWER WITHIN THE CITY, AND THITHER FLED ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN, AND ALL THEY OF THE CITY, AND SHUT IT TO THEM, AND GAT THEM UP TO THE TOP OF THE TOWER."

2025. Towers in the East.-When once entering an Indian city which was surrounded by high walls, and only approached through its massive stone gateway, I was struck by seeing a stronghold or fortress in its midst, which rose up like a rocky mountain, having on its heights a tower, while around its base were walls with battlements, and a deep moat beneath.

I was told that in times when one petty Najali or chief had been making constant incursions against another, it had been the custom to have a stronghold within the cities that there might yet be a place of refuge if the enemy succeeded in taking the gates; and here in times of danger the aged and helpless men, women, and children were conveyed, also the cattle and other valuables.

The tower, at the time of which I speak, was used as a prison, and in it was confined for life the brother of the reigning Najali, who had been discovered plotting against the throne.

We can imagine how eagerly this fortified place was sought in troublous times. There are constant allusions to it in Scripture, while God's people are told continually that He is their fortress and stronghold, and that the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.-W.

John x. 28.-" AND I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE; AND THEY SHALL

NEVER PERISH, NEITHER SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY
HAND."

2026. Celestial Flowers.-You can buy complete sets of all the flowers on the Alpine district at the hotel near the foot of the Rosenlani Glacier, very neatly pressed, and enclosed in cases. Some of the flowers are very common, but they must be included, or the flora would not be completely represented. The botanist is as careful to see that the common ones are there as he is to note that the rarer specimens are not excluded. Our blessed Lord will be sure to make a perfect collection of all the flowers of the field, and even the ordinary believer, the every-day worker, the common convert, will not be forgotten. To Jesus' eye there is beauty in all His plants, and each one is needed to perfect the flora of paradise. -C. H. SPUrgeon.

Gems.

82. Gratitude.-A deaf and dumb pupil of the Abbé Licard, on being asked what he understood by the word gratitude, wrote down immediately, "Gratitude is the memory of the heart."-Brown's "Philosophy of the Human Mind."

83. Opportunity is the flower of time; and as the stalk may remain when the flower is cut off, so time may remain with us when opportunity is gone.-Bond.

84. The Bible.-It is said of some of the mines of Cornwall, that the deeper they are sunk, the richer they prove; and though some lodes have been followed a thousand and even fifteen hundred feet, they have not come to an end. Such is the book of God. It is a mine of wealth which can never be exhausted. The deeper we sink into it, the richer it becomes.Rev. Charles Graham.

85. Pleasures of Sin,-You have seen the canopy of heaven covered with the black clouds of a thunder-storm, and every now and then the darkness has been made more visible or sensible by sudden flashes of lightning. Just like these flashes are the pleasures of the world: they last but for a moment, and leave darkness and misery behind; whereas true happiness sheds a continual daylight on the soul.-Christian's Penny Magazinc.

86. Foretelling a Man's Destiny.-He who rightly understands the laws that govern the material world, can predict with utmost certainty when eclipses shall take place, when old Ocean shall overflow its boundaries, or when another comet shall sway the vaulted heavens. So a man's destiny. Tell us the moral principles that reign over a man's soul, and we will predict his condition a thousand years-ay, a thousand ages hence, unless these principles are eradicated.-Homilist.

87. The Commonness of Sin.-Nothing is more widely diffused, or more constantly near us, than atmospheric air; yet few ever notice its existence, and fewer its nature. Dust, and chaff, and feathers, that sometimes move up and down in it, attract our regard more than the air in which they float; yet these are trifles which scarcely concern us, and in this we live and move, and have our being. The air affects our life and happiness more than those occasional meteoric phenomena which excite the wonder of us all. Such is sin it pervades humanity, but in proportion to its profusion, men are blind to its presence.-Rev. W. Arnot.

END OF VOLUME IX.