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bush, which stood nearly opposite the door of the tent, to discover if possible what had become of the man, but returned instantly in the utmost consternation. The lion, who was still there, rose up and roared furiously. About a hundred shots more were fired at the bush, without perceiving anything of the lion; this induced one of the men again to approach it with a firebrand in his hand; but as soon as he reached the bush, the lion roared terribly, and leaped at him, on which he threw the firebrand, and the people having fired about ten shots, he immediately retired to his former station. The firebrand which had been thrown at the lion, had fallen in the midst of the bush, favoured by the wind, began to burn with a great flame, so that we could see very clearly into and through it. We continued our firing until the night passed away and the day began to break, which animated every one to fire at the lion, as he could not lie there without being entirely exposed. Several men posted at the farthest waggons, watched to take aim at him as he came out. At last, before it became quite light, he walked up the hill with the man in his mouth, when about forty shots were fired at him without molesting him in the least. He persevered in retaining his prey amid the fire and shot, and carried it securely off."

Several years ago, an Englishman, named Lucas, was riding in an open plain in South Africa, one morning about day-break; and “ observing a lion at a distance, he endeavoured to avoid him by making a wide circuit. There were a great many spring-bucks scattered over the extensive flats; but the lion, from the open nature of the country, had been unsuccessful in hunting. Lucas soon perceived that he was not disposed to let him pass without an acquaintance, and that he was rapidly approaching for an encounter. He being without his rifle, and but little inclined for closer acquaintance, immediately turned off at a right angle, laid his whip freely to his horse's flanks, and galloped for his life. But it proved too late. The horse was tired, and bore a heavy man upon his back. The lion was fresh, and furious with hunger, and came down upon him like a thunder-bolt. In a few moments he overtook Lucas, and springing up behind him, brought horse and man in an

instant to the ground. Happily the poor man was unhurt; and the lion was too eager in worrying the horse, to pay any immediate attention to the rider. Hardly knowing how he escaped, he contrived to reach the nearest house in safety."

Hunting the lion in Africa, is generally pursued for the sake of destroying the animal only, without any view of sport. A regular hunt, when the people turn out, is a complete scramble; a mixture of men of various figures and complexions, the dogs innumerable, and of every

kind.

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We must tell one story more, and then we will stop. One of the residents in South Africa, according to the Naturalist's History, shot a lion in the most perilous circumstances that can be conceived. We must tell the story in his own words. "My wife," he says, was sitting in the house, near the door. The children were playing around her. I was outside, busily engaged in doing something to a waggon, when suddenly, although it was mid-day, an enormous lion came up and laid himself quietly down in the shade, upon the very threshold of the door. My wife, either stupified with fear, or aware of the danger attending any attempt to fly, remained motionless in her place, while the children took refuge in her lap. The cry they uttered immediately attracted my attention. I hastened toward the door; but my astonishment may well be conceived, when I found the entrance barred in such a way. Although the animal had not seen me, unarmed as I was, escape seemed impossible; yet I glided gently-scarcely knowing what I meant to do to the side of the house, up to the window of my chamber, where I knew my loaded gun was standing, and which I found in such a condition, that I could reach it with my hand-a most fortunate circumstance; and still more so, when I found that the door of the room was open, so that I could see the whole danger of the scene. The lion was beginning to move, perhaps with the intention of making a spring. There was no longer any time to think. I called softly to the mother not to be alarmed; and, invoking the name of the Lord, fired my piece. The ball passed directly over the hair of my boy's head, and lodged in the forehead

of the lion, immediately above his eyes, which shot forth, as it were, sparks of fire, and stretched him on the ground, so that he never stirred more."-Youth's Cabinet.

THE EARLY LIFE OF ABRAHAM.

THE life of Abraham, the patriarch, forms an interesting. portion of the sacred Scriptures. But the Bible is silent concerning his earliest history. The writer of the Book of Joshua incidentally inform us that his parents were idolaters, "they served other Gods." Josh. xxiv. 2. His birth-place was "Ur, of the Chaldecs," and it is probable that they were worshippers of fire. Young Abraham, we may fully suppose, was taught to reverence false objects of worship; but God brought him at length to the knowledge of himself, and at the Divine command, Abraham went forth, not knowing whither he was going, until God brought him to the land of Canaan, which his children's children were to inherit as a possession for ever. By sin they have forfeited the inheritance, and are at present dispossessed, and are wandering Jews, until God in his mercy restores them again. Although the Scriptures give us no account of the early history of Abraham, the Jews have concerning it several traditions. We shall give a Talmudic Allegory, which embodies this traditionary information. Our young friends will observe that it is not intended to vouch for the perfect authenticity of the particulars, but the principal object is to illustrate the absurdity of idolatry, and to point out a method of argument that may be employed to prove the existence and perfections of the one only living and true God. We trust that young Christians, as well as Jewish youth, may be instructed thereby, and heed more the moral conveyed, than the embellished story by which it is conveyed.

"Providence seems to have designed the frequent journies of Abraham to be a means of spreading that faith, which elevated his mind and morals above those of his contemporaries; and of preaching, with the force of inspired eloquence, the true God through the regions of the East.

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We share the opinions of the Rabbins, that his followers were the disciples which in his own land he had gained over to his religion. That passage of Holy Writ which says, ‘Abraham took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all the substance they had gathered, and the souls they had gotten in Harem, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan,' seems to indicate that such was the case. The Hebrew renders it the souls they HAD MADE;' and Rabbi Eleazer, the son of Zimra, saith, If all those who have ever existed in this world were collected to create even a fly, they could not bestow life upon it, and Holy Writ here speaks of making souls.' But these are the converts whom they reclaimed; and the word [translated] made,' is used to teach us, that whosoever reclaims a soul from idolatry to the worship of God, is as if he had created him anew. Bethel, which according to literal translation, is THE HOUSE OF GOD, seems to have been the central point of the patriarch's wanderings, where his pious hearers assembled to listen to his instructions. This is proved by the (Hebrew rendering of the) words in Genesis xiii. 4. Abraham there proclaimed the name of the Lord.' But as his purpose to spread his doctrines carried him from one place to another, he perpetuated his presence and instruction by erecting a monument. This was, doubtless, the motive of the patriarchs in building the many altars of which we find mention made in Holy Writ.

"Eastern traditions relate, that Abraham had, in his early youth, been brought to reflect on, and to acknowledge, the unity and eternity of the Creator, from observing the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, the regular alternations of day and night, the constant succession and predominance of the sun, and other astral luminaries, and the variety of seasons which thence results, which convinced him that One Great and Incomprehensible Being governed the universe which he had called into existence. This tradition is probable, and in accordance with reason; as Abraham's mind must have discarded the erroneous opinions of his contemporaries even before the Divine revelation was vouchsafed unto him."

The above are the remarks of a Jewish writer, in an

"Essay on the Ancient Schools of the Israelites." According to the legends of the Rabbins, the first schools are of a date anterior to the Deluge. In these, both religion and the sciences were taught. At the head of these schools were Adam, Enoch, and Noah. Subsequently Melchizedec became the founder of a school in Kirieth-Sepher, "the city of books.” Abraham is said to have been the disciple of Eber, and promulgated the learning of his tutor among the Chaldeans and Egyptians, who are said to have been indebted to him for their knowledge of arithmetic and astronomy,-sciences in which the latter were subsequently more fully instructed by his grandson Jacob. Eber was the son of Salah, and the grandson of Shem, and is said to have been the assistant of his grandfather. Josephus, and many others derive the name "Hebrews," from "Eber." If this derivation is correct, it is probable that the word Hebrew at first denoted "a pupil of Eber," as it is far more likely that the young and active grandson, Eber, should have been the zealous instructor of Abraham, than the old and feeble grandsire Shem. And, as Abraham was the great promulgator of the religious instructions bestowed upon him by Eber, he is the first who, in Holy Writ, is emphatically called "the Hebrew," or disciple of Eber.

We will now subjoin the Talmudic Allegory concerning this venerable patriarch, whose faith and obedience have been so universally held up for admiration, and the principles of which are necessary in the formation of that character, and the attainment of that "righteousness" which is only acceptable to God.

"Abraham was reared in a cavern, for the tyrant Nimrod, forewarned by his astrologers that the infant son of Terah would teach mankind to renounce the service of the imaginary divinities which Nimrod worshipped, sought to take his life. But in the darksome cavern, the light of God illumined his youthful mind. He reflected, and asked himself, 'Where am I? Who has created me?' He had reached the age of sixteen years, when he left his dreary abode, and, for the first time, beheld the heavens and their resplendent orbs, the earth and its fulness. How astonished was he, and how rejoiced! He interrogated all

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