Exod. vii. 18. The Egyptians shall loath to drink of the water of the river. This was a severe infiction, especially when we consider the great estimation in which the water of the Nile was held, and the peculiar delight which the Egyptians expressed in partaking of it. Of this circumstance, the following is a remarkable instance. "The water is immediately fresh, without any brackish intermixture: but the overflowing stream being then at its height, was deeply impregnated with mud: that, however, did not deter the thirsty mariners from drinking of it profusely. If I were to live five hundred years, I shall never forget the eagerness with which they let down and pulled up the pitcher, and drank off its contents, whistling and smacking their fingers, and calling out tayeep, tayeep, good, good,' as if bid

ding defiance to the whole world to produce such another draught. Most of the party, induced by their example, tasted also of the far-famed waters, and, having tasted, pronounced them of the finest relish, notwithstanding the pollution of clay and mud with which they were contaminated: a decision which we never had occasion to revoke during the whole time of our stay in Egypt, or even since. The water in Albania is good, but the water of the Nile is the finest in the world."-Richardson's Tra vels along the Mediterranean, vol. 1. p. 33. See also Turner's Tour in the Levant, vol. II. p. 511; Belzoni's Researches in Egypt, p. 345.

Matt. vi. 5. They love to pray. standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.-Such was the ostentatious devotion of the Pharisees. Retirement and privacy were not considered either as necessary or desirable in prayer. This part of their conduct is still imitated by many persons, especially among the Mohammedans. "An aged Turk is particularly proud of a long flow-. ing white beard, a well shaved cheek and head, and a clean turban. It is a common thing to see such characters, far past the bloom of life, mounted on stone seats, with a bit of Persian carpet, at the corner of the streets, or in front of their bazars, combing their beards, smoking their pipes, or drinking their coffee, with a pitcher of water standing beside them, or saying their prayers, or reading the koran."-Richardson's Travels, vol. I. p. 75. See Job xxix. 7; 1 Sam. iv. 13; Morier's Second Journey through Persia, p. 208; Travels of Ali Bey, vol. I. p. 17.

Matt. xxi. 7. And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon." The fellahs, or peasants, who were engaged in cultivating the fields in the neighbourhood, observed our landing, and brought down their miserable asses withou

saddles or bridles, to help us through the sand. The place of saddles was supplied by their thick woollen plaids, which were folded and laid on the backs of the animals and as the Egyptian ponies require more driving than curbing, they were guided by the same instrument by which they were knocked and goaded along on their journeys."-Richardson's Travels, vol. p. 120.

I.

Jer. viii. 7. The crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming. The migration and periodical flight of birds, instinctive as they must certainly be considered, are yet peculiarly demonstrative of the providential superintendence of the Creator. The natural history of the crane furnishes striking evidence of this assertion. "Immediately after landing, we were surprized and delighted with a flight of birds, which we discerned at first like a thick dark speck in the heavens, which gradually enlarged as it approached, and discovered at length the array and order of their flight. They wheeled along their airy movements, in the form of a semicircle, enclosing within itself numbers of smaller circles; the component parts of which were constantly shifting their relative positions, advancing to the front, as if by a sudden impulse, then falling back to the rear, alternately occupying and giving place to others. The lively competition was constantly maintained, each of them every instant passing or passed by his fellow. All was grace and harmony, not one discordant movement throughout the whole array; every thing appeared as if regulated by a preconcerted plan, in which every member understood and performed his part with freedom and precision, alike the subordinates and the superiors. They were too high in the air for us to hear any noise from the steerage of their wings, or to know what species of birds they were, but we judged them to be cranes. They held on

their steady flight from north to south, following the course of the river, as far as the eye could accompany them." Richardson's Travels, vol. I. p. 378.

Proverbs iii. 28. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to-morrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee.-They had opened and explored a temple at Absambul. It is then added; "Here a most disagreeable scene occurred between the workmen and a revengeful Arab. The field of our operations was directly under the precipitous front of the temple, and the boatmen had no sooner commenced their labours, than an Arab, who had taken possession of the beight immediately above, proceeded to roll down large stones upon them. Fortunately no person was hurt; but all were instantly dislodged, and greatly alarmed. The stones that he rolled down with such remorseless vengeance, were more than sufficient to have killed any man, even bad they fallen from a height less considerable than that from which they were precipitated. On looking up, the enemy was soon discovered, by no means shrinking or attempting to conceal himself, but, bold and daring in his attack, threatened a renewal of hostilities on the first man who should resume the operation. He was summoned to retire; but, no, he had chosen his ground, and would not quit the advantageous post that made one man a match for so mauy. There was no time for parleying, he might soon have been supported by hundreds, which would have rendered negotiation more difficult, and opposition on our part less effective. Aware of this, Lord Belmore desired an English sailor, who by this time had come up with a musket in his hand, to fire a ball within a small distance of his head, so as just to let him hear the sound of it. The order was instantly obeyed, and had the effect of making him crouch down behind an elevation in the rock. Several other

so justly and so strongly condemns. "Next morning, the 27th, we started again at an early hour, as soon as the reisses had got through their prayers. With one of them this was a very long and a very serious concern. He generally spent an hour in this exercise every morning, and as much in the evening, besides being very punctual in the performance of this duty at the intervening periods of stated prayer. Certainly he did not pray in secret, communing with his heart, but called aloud, with all his might, and repeated the words as fast as his tongue could give them utterance. The form and words of his prayer were the same with those of the others; but this good man had made a vow to repeat certain words of the prayer a given number of times, both night and morning. The word Rabboni, for example, answering to our word Lord, he would bind himself to repeat a hundred or two hundred times, twice a day; and accordingly went on, in the hear ing of all the party, and on his knees, sometimes with his face directed steadily to heaven, at other times bowing down to the ground, and calling out Rabboni, Rabboni, Rabboni, Rabboni, &c. as fast as he could articulate the words after. each other, like a school-boy going through his task; not like a man who, praying with the heart and the understanding also, continues longer on his knees, in the rapture of devotion; whose soul is a flame of fire, enkindled by his Maker, and elevated towards his God; andwho,like Jacob, will not let him go until he bless him. Having settled his account with the word Rabboni, which the telling of his beads enabled him to know when he had done, he proceeded to dispose of his other vows in a similar manner. Allah houakbar, "God most Great," perhaps came next; and he would go on as with the other, Allah houakbar, Allah houakbar, Allah houakbar, &c. repeating the words as fast as he could frame his

organs to pronounce them. When he had done with this, he took up the chorus of another word, Allah careem, "God assisting;" Allah hedaim, "Eternal God;" Al ham de lelai," Glory to God;" or some other word or phrase, or attribute of Jehovah, and repeated it over as many times as he had vowed to do. The usual number for repeating certain words is thirty-three times each and the Mussulman's beads are strung accordingly three times thirty-three, with a large dividing bead between each division. The usual phrases so repeated, are those just mentioned. To hear this man repeat his prayers, his variety of unconnected tones running through all the notes of the gamut, produced quite a ludicrous effect; you would say this man was caricaturing, or making a farce of devotion; but to look at him, while engaged in the performance, nothing could be more serious or devout, or more abstracted from the world, than his appearance. All his countrymen thought well of his devotions, and never manifested the slightest disposition to smile at, or to twit him for, his oddities: on the contrary, they said, that he was a rich man, and would be a great sheikb. So great is their respect for prayer, that raillery on that topic would not be tolerated among Mussulmans. While on the subject of prayer, it may be worth while to add the following particulars. In their addresses to the Almighty, they are not permitted to use any terms expressive of any part of the human body, or even of external objects, considering it offensive to God, and a species of idolatry to do so. They have five stated periods of prayer daily; souba, or morning dawn, when they say two prayers; dochr, or noon, when they say four prayers; el assr, or about three o'clock, when they also say four prayers; magreep, or at twilight, when they say three prayers; el ushe, or about half past eight o'clock, when they say four

prayers. In performing their ablutions before prayer, they begin with the hands, which they wash three times; then the mouth three times, throwing out the water: having cleansed the nose, they wash it three times; the face and eyes three times; then they draw a line from the eyebrows to the ears, which they cleanse and wash; then pass their wet hands behind their neck, and over the head; then they wash their arms three times; last of all, their feet, and various other parts of the body. They are then purified as their religion enjoins, to address their Maker." Richardson's Travels, vol. I. p. 463,

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I CANNOT forbear calling your at tention to what appears to me an extraordinary passage in the British Critic for last October. It occurs in the review of Professor Le Bas's Sermons. But I must first place before your readers the paragraph of the sermons-a very just and beautiful one, in myopinion-which forms the subject of the critic's remarks.

and

"It is a further source of unspeakable joy," says Mr. Le Bas, "that our Lord's assumption of humanity was not temporary transient; that he still retains his union with that very nature which suffered so much for his (our) redemption, and with it a personal and experimental knowledge of all the perils and conflicts which beset the path of our pilgrimage. Our souls may now be fixed on the truth, that we are not only at the disposal of an omnipotent Creator, but under the protection of one who calls himself our Brother, with a combination of all the feelings and sympathies which belong to that relation. Had the union of the two natures in our great High Priest been limited to the duration of his appearance here; had he, on his ascension to heaven, laid aside his earthly tabernacle, and

left it to moulder in the dust; the scheme of redemption, however abounding in mercy, would scarcely have addressed itself so forcibly as it now does, to our affections and our hopes. For we should then have wanted that confidence which we now possess, springing from the blessed assurance that he who was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,' hath entered within the veil,' bearing with him a tender sense of our wretchedness and infirmity. Had the termination of Christ's ministry on earth been instantly followed by his disunion from humanity, we might have been cast back into a state resembling that condition of fear, that spirit of bondage' and distrust, which is the reproach and the curse of what, by some, is called the religion of nature. The satisfaction for sin would still indeed have been offered; but then we should have been without a mediator to plead it. Our afflictions must still have been made immediately to God, in all the unmitigated blaze of his perfection and power."

"In this passage," says the reviewer, a position is advanced, which, we confess, startled us a little, and for which we are not aware of any sufficient authority.... The hypostatic union, during our Saviour's abode upon earth, though perhaps indispensable for the purposes of his mission, is a subject which it almost oppresses our faculties to contemplate. But to suppose its continuance in any degree, in the celestial mansions, seems an immeasurable increase of difficulty, and wholly uncalled for by any necessity. The Son may surely be conceived to sympathize with us, though he should no longer retain any portion of our infirmities: since the Scriptures uniformly ascribe, even to the Father, feelings of kindness and commiseration for us, who has never experienced our sufferings and sorrows."

If I speak of this critique with