XV.

likeness of his glorious presence he was mani- | fested to Noah; and that with the same token of the likeness of his glory, He had respect to his sacrifice by consuming it upon the altar. To Abraham, when the sun had gone down, and when it was dark, the likeness of the divine presence was manifested in a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp passing between the pieces of his offering, (Gen. 17;) which likeness has been stated and spoken of by the first Christian martyr, when before the Jewish Sanhedrim, as in deed and in truth the God of glory. Acts vii. 2. But to Moses, (and the darkness imperceptibly runs into the dawn,) to Moses the likeness of the divine glory appeared in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and the bush was not consumed. And there came a voice to him from the excellent glory, saying, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God." Exod. iii. 6. After he had received his commission—" for God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you," (ver. 14,)-after he had received his commission, and had been empowered to bring Israel out of Egypt, in order to lead them into the land which had been promised to their fathers, "The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them in the way; and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light; to go by day and by night," &c. Exod. xiii. 20–22. When he had brought them into the desert of Sinai, we are told, that he went up into the mount, and left, with a solemn charge, the thousands of Israel encamped at its base. "And when he went up, a cloud covered the mount: and the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud: and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of all the children of Israel." Exod. xxiv. 15-17. After the tabernacle was framed and set up, "a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle...and the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys." After the temple was built upon the hill of Zion, the dawn began to appear as the morning, and the day-star to arise, when the tabernacle of witness, with the ark of the testimony, and all the holy vessels, were brought into it by the Levites and the priests. "King Solomon, then, with the whole congregation of Israel, stood before the ark, and sacrificed sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord into his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim...And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the

See Exod. xl. 34, &c.; Deut. i. 33; Numb. ix. 16, &c.

holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord." I Kings viii. 10, &c. The visible manifestation of the likeness of the glory of the Lord, indeed, in this and in the preceding examples, is so spoken of above thirty times in the evening and dawn of the dispensation of the day of grace. Not that the fire or the cloud was the glory of Jehovah, but only the shaded likeness of the glorious presence of the God of Israel. "The Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness. And ye said, behold the Lord our God hath showed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire." Deut. v. 22. But when the prophet, like unto Moses, came to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his people Israel, the Sun of Righteousness then shone forth in all the brightness of day, and words like these were wafted on the breath of the morning air :"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Isaiah Ix. I. He who was the Sun of Righteousness indeed, was none other than he who had before appeared in the likeness of his glory, "in the evening and dawn," in the fiery flame and cloudy pillar, to intimate that while he was, and is, a consuming fire to the workers of iniquity, that, to his Church, whose sacrifice he accepted, he was, and is, "the Saviour angel who dwelt in the bush." The likeness of his glory then, indeed, appeared in the fire and in the cloud, "while he was a wall of fire around his Zion, and the glory in the midst of her," but when he took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, (Phil. ii. 6-8,) that glory, if we may speak with most humble reverence, was clouded in a tabernacle of flesh, and rested "in the temple of his body." Esaias, indeed, saw His glory and spake of him, before He was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (John xii. 41,) "When he was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John i. 14. "But show us the Father, and it "No man hath seen sufficeth us." John xiv. 8.

"I and

God at any time; the only begotten Son, who
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared
"He that hath seen me," said
him." John i. 18.
"hath seen
He who was full of grace and truth,
the Father." John xiv. 9.
my Father are
one." John. x. 30. Yes, "he was the brightness
of his Father's glory, and the express image of his
person." The brightness of his light, indeed,
though he was the light of the world, was generally
shaded in the cloud, On one occasion, however,
"his face did shine as the sun, his raiment was
white as the light," Matt. xvii. 2, and "he received
from God the Father honour and glory, when
there came such a voice to him from the excellent
glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased." 2 Peter i. 17. And on another occasion,

after he had suffered and entered into his glory, an | the soles of his feet,' there was under his feet as eminent servant saw that glory and spoke of him, and he spake the word before kings and was not ashamed. "At mid-day, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying, in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." Acts xxvi. 13-15. Yes, he was, and is, light, and hath covered himself with light as with a garment, though clouds and darkness be round about him. As the overpowering beams of the sun, however, are not only often impeded and softened by the fleecy clouds when they flow down on us from on high, but also frequently become apparent in the seven lovely colours of the rainbow, as the emblem of the covenant, so He who was, and is, the light of heaven, as well as the light of the world, appeared, and still appears in the glory of his grace, to the spiritual eye, in the seven attributes of the perfection of light. "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." "It is not unworthy of remark that, in the division of the scale of colours in the rainbow there is a striking approximation to the divisions of a chord that would give the musical intervals of the octave." While colour and sound, then, seem thus to harmonise, may we not, when in the Spirit, perceive, in the Word, through the Light of heaven and the Light of the word, the glory and glorious harmony of the divine attributes? O yes, and the harmony of heavenly harps attuned to the words of the song of the redeemed before the throne, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." O but in the rainbow round the throne we perceive the light of "the Father of lights," and the light of "the Sun of Righteousness," shaded in the symbol of the divine presence in heaven, "for the glory of the Lord doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Let us lift the eyes of our mind, then, from that glory which, for a time, appeared on earth, and look through "the Word," and see in it, "as through a glass darkly," the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord in heaven, "for as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so is the appearance of the brightness round about."

3. The appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. "Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, saw the God-the appearance of the likeness of the Godof Israel. And there was under his feet, for they saw at most the place of his throne, and the place of Encyclopædia Brittannica, Art. Light, Properties of Light,

it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it
were the body of heaven in his clearness." Exod.
xxiv. 9, 10; Ezek. xliii. 7. Ezekiel, also, saw the
appearance of the likeness of the glory of the God
of heaven, and when he saw it he fell upon his
face. Above the cherubim, and above the firma-
ment that was over their head, was the likeness of
a throne, in the appearance of the likeness of the
most precious sapphire, in the purest air of the
azure blue, studded with all the brilliants of heaven.
"And upon the likeness of the throne was the like-
ness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appear-
ance of fire round about within it; from the ap-
pearance of his loins even upward, and from the
appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it
were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness
round about. As the appearance of the bow that
is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the ap-
pearance of the brightness round about. This
was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of
the Lord. And when I saw it I fell upon my face."
Ezekiel i. 26-28. And how like is this vision to
that which was in these last days presented to the
beloved John, when an exile on the sterile and
solitary isle of Patmos. A door was opened in
heaven, that that glory which is inaccessible might
be seen by him, through the shadow of the rain-
bow round the throne. And when the heavens
were opened, he heard a voice, which he thus
describes in the ectasy of expression: "I heard as
it were a trumpet talking with me, and saying unto
me, come up hither, and I will show you things
which must be hereafter." The door being opened,
and the voice heard and obeyed, we are informed o.
the effect-the instantaneous effect, "immediately
I was in the Spirit." Whether he was in the body
or out of the body we are not told, probably he
himself knew not, but this we are taught, and of
this he was fully assured, "immediately I was in the
Spirit." The first object of his vision, after these
preparations, was a glorious high throne,-the
throne of the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings,
and the Lord of Lords,-a throne of grace,—a
throne of government,-a throne of glory. We
are not informed whether it appeared in the like-
ness of the throne of sapphire, as spoken of by the
former prophet, (Ezekiel i. 26,) or like that seen
by Daniel in the appearance of the likeness of the
fiery flame, with his wheels as a burning fire,
(Dan. vii. 9,) or in appearance like unto the
great white throne which John himself saw on
another occasion, and before whose face the earth
and the heaven fled away, (Rev. xx. 11,) but this
we are told, and it is all that we are told, by
the inspired seer, "Immediately I was in the
Spirit, and behold a throne was set in heaven."
O "he holdeth back the face of his throne, and
spreadeth his cloud upon it." Job xxvi. 9. "But
on the throne sat one, and he that sat was to look
upon like a jasper and a sardine stone." As the
jasper; and, oh, there is no representation of per-
son or features in the appearance of the likeness

of the glorious and glorified God-man Mediator; | derings, and voices: and there were seven lamps he was manifest as God-man, invested in all the of fire burning before the throne, which are the riches of his grace; and as a sardine stone, the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne first brilliant of the High Priest's breast-plate; he there was a sea of glass like unto crystal and in appeared displaying the ineffable glory of his the midst of the throne, and round about the divinity as Jehovah the just. "O Lord, our throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and thou hast set thy glory above the heavens." But the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had there was a rainbow round about the throne, and a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a it is to this that the spiritual eye is more particu- flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of larly directed as to the emblem, yea, as to the them six wings about him; and they were full of divine glory shaded, if we may be so allowed to eyes within." One, indeed, thinks he perceives express ourselves, to be looked at from a distance the four beasts, or the four living creatures to be through the glass of the Word, so that we may the four evangelists ;* another supposes them to see as by it and through it the appearance of the represent the four standards of the camp of Islikeness of that Light which is inaccessible and rael.† May not we humbly try to think of them full of glory. O it is round about the throne, the as the angelic host, similarly described both by the very "halo" of divine light, the circle of perfection Old and New Testament prophets, (Ezek. i. 10; which is round about all, and over all the other Rev. iv. 7,) and especially when we consider their glories of the heavenly vision. "But eye hath unceasing heavenly employment before the throne? not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, the heart of man, the things which God hath pre- holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and pared for them that love him." is to come. And when those beasts give glory, and honour, and thanks, to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four-andtwenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were

"Lest his high throne, above expression bright,
With deadly glory, should oppress our sight;
To break the dazzling force he draws a screen
Of sable shades, and spreads his clouds between."

O let the voice, in the Word, which calls, raise
us from earthly cares and affections to high and
heavenly contemplations! The rainbow repre-
sented as round the throne was assuredly, to the
seer, when in the Spirit, the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of the Lord dwelling in that
light which no man can approach unto, whom no
eye hath seen, or can see; "to whom be honour
and power everlasting. Amen." But in and
through the same emblem we may also, in the
Word, "
see, as through a glass darkly," something
surely like the appearance of the likeness of that
glory with which he will glorify his saints in the
holy mansions of celestial light; for while the
rainbow is round about the throne, it is over and
above the four-and-twenty seats of the four-and-
twenty elders who serve him day and night in his
temple. One sees, indeed, or thinks he sees,
"through this glass," the four-and-twenty elders-
in mystery-to be the four-and-twenty books of
the Old Testament Scriptures. Another seems
to perceive them to be the four-and-twenty princes
of the four-and-twenty courses of the Jewish
priests. May not we be permitted humbly,
through the same means, to try to distinguish
them as the twelve heads of the Old Testament
and the twelve heads of the New Testament
Church, representing the whole Church of the re-
deemed in heaven? But, contemplate for your
selves this part of the glorious vision, for we only
look and try to see it as "through a glass darkly."
"Round about the throne there were four-and-
twenty seats and upon the seats I saw four-and-
twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment ;
and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And
out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thun-

created."

O sinner, be allured, by this divine emblem of the inconceivable glory, to come humbly to the throne of grace! Confess there thy sins, all thy sins with all their aggravations, how heinous soever they may appear to thee," for he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Ask with as much sincerity and with as earnest desire to be freed from their power, as thou criest with trembling to be saved from their punishment, for the Saviour's name is Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins." Pray, O pray to Him who is the hearer and answerer of prayer, and take with thee words, saying, "Create in me a clean heart, O Lord; renew a right spirit within me." But ask, O" ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of

"The first evangelist, Mark, begins his first face or leafe at the voyce crying like a roaring lyon in the wildernesse, Prepare the way of the Lord,' &c. The second evangelist, Luke, begins his first face or leafe at Zacharias, his offering incense (as it were a

first face or leafe of the genealogie of Christ, as he is man.

The

bullock) at the altar, &c. The third evangelist, Matthew, hath his fourth evangelist, John, begins his first face or leafe at the high and divine essence of Christ's Godhead, flying so high in his stile that he is compared to an eagle."-Napier, Lord of Merchiston's, "Plaine Discovery," &c.

"The first living creature was like a lion, which was the standard of Judah with the two other tribes in the eastern division; the second like a calf or ox, which was the standard of Ephraim

with the two other tribes of the western division; the third had the face as a man, which was the standard of Reuben with the two

other tribes in the southern division; and the fourth was like a flying eagle, which was the standard of Dan with the two other tribes in the northern division."-Bishop Newton, Diss. on Prophecy,

you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" But thou must remember, O sinner, that no petition can or will be received from thee at that throne but that which has the name of Jesus attached, as the only name by which thou canst be saved. "All we ask is for Christ's sake," must not be with thee, as it appears with but too many to be, a few unmeaning words, formed by general practice into a brief sentence, just for dismissing the grave exercise of prayer, and for giving liberty to the captive. Oh no! it is the only sentence of weight and authority in the most urgent petition of the most earnest petitioner. It is in the light of day that the bow is to be seen in the cloud. It is about the Sun of Righteousness and round about the throne where the rainbow is in sight, like unto an emerald. It is in the name of Christ, therefore, who is the only true light, that thou canst and mayest receive grace on earth, and be crowned with glory for ever in heaven. "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father, in my name," said He who is the truth, "he will give it you. Ask, then, and receive, that your joy may be full."

O sincere and serious believer, be thou encouraged by the same divine emblem to draw near to God with holy reverence and confidence, as the child unto his Father, ever able, and willing, and ready to help. Ask thy bread-thy temporal bread-with a father's blessing: "Give us this day our daily bread, so that whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we may do all to the glory of God." Ask thy spiritual portion, even that bread which came down from heaven, of which if a man eat he shall live for ever: 66 Lord, ever more give us this bread, for thy flesh is meat indeed, and thy blood is drink indeed." Having prayed for thy temporal and spiritual provision, commit thy works unto him,-the wisest of men bids thee: "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established." Prov. xvi. 3. Having committed thy works unto him, commit also thy way unto him, the pious Psalmist of Israel bids thee: "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass." Ps. xxxvii. 5. Having committed thy works and thy way unto the Lord, commit also thy whole cause to him,-the patient patriarch of old did so: I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause." Job v. 8. Haying committed thy whole cause to him, commit to him also thy better part, the holy inspired apostle bids thee: "Commit the keeping of thy soul to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." 1 Peter iv. 19. And having committed thy soul, be ready also to commit thy spirit into his hand,a most devoted servant of the Lord did so, and bids thee: "Into thy hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O God of truth." Ps. xxxi. 5. "But I heard a voice from heaven saying

unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in
the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit,
that they may rest from their labours; and their
works do follow them."
"They shall hunger no
more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the
sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb,
that is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them,
and shall lead them unto living fountains of wa
ters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes." "And I beheld, and I heard the voice of
many angels round about the throne, and the
beasts, and the elders: and the number of them
was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou-
sands of thousands; saying with a loud voice,
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and
honour, and glory, and blessing. And the four
beasts said, Amen. And the four-and-twenty el-
ders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for
ever and ever." "And I heard as it were the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder-
ings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God Omni-
potent reigneth."

THE ELEPHANT.

BY THE LATE REV. DAVID SCOT, M. D.,
Professor of Oriental Languages in the University of St. Andrews.
THERE are two species of elephants, the African and
Asiatic. The African is smaller than the Asiatic, but
the ears are longer. It has three hoofs to the hind
feet, while the Asiatic has four. In all probability,
the African is the elephant of the Greeks and Romans.
Alexander and his soldiers were probably the first Eu-
ropeans who saw the Asiatic elephant; at least, when
elephants were exhibited in Greece or Rome, they
ferry them over at the Straits of Gibraltar, however
were brought from Africa, not Asia. It was easy to
small the ships might be, but almost impossible to
bring them from India, or the islands in the Indian
Ocean, unless the ships had been as large as those used
in our days, in which elephants can be transported with
ease over the greatest extent of sea.
Mammalia in the Linnæan arrangement, none of which
The elephant belongs to the second order of the class
are natives of Europe; and to the sixth order of the
Cuvierian arrangement, which is the Pachydermata, or
thick-skinned animals. He stands from eight to ten
feet high. His strength nearly equals that of six horses,
and his age measures from one hundred to one hundred
and thirty years. Of all animals, his understanding ap-
proaches nearest to that of man; and his attention and
obedience, docility and mildness, are very remarkable.
The trunk has wonderful properties; serving as an organ
of sense, as a hand for grasping, and as a weapon of de-
fence. Aware of its indispensable use, he secures it
from harm by the most extraordinary care.

Senegal to the Cape of Good Hope. In those regions
Elephants are found in great numbers from the river
of Africa in which they abound, they herd together in
many hundreds, and assist one another when assailed
by an enemy. The human inhabitants rather avoid
than attempt to subdue them. They abound also in
the island of Ceylon, and other islands of the Indian
but are not to be found in Europe or America.
Ocean, as well as in most countries of Southern Asia,

They possess great sensibility, and derive considerable pleasure from musical sounds. They inhabit the torrid

zone, and its forests afford an excellent shelter from the heat, of which they discover an extreme impatience, as well as of cold, when they come into northern latitude. They devour no flesh, and kill no animal. They feed on vegetable produce alone; and have four grinders on each jaw, so closely united as to seem one solid substance. One of these grinders measures nine inches in❘ breadth, and weighs four and a half pounds.

Eastern monarchs have employed this animal in war. The Assyrian kings, who, for many years, harassed and distressed the Jewish nation, brought elephants into the field, as a part of their force, as we learn from the book of the Maccabees; but they found, what all others who have employed them have found, that they are a kind of force not to be trusted; and in the heat of battle elephants may become as injurious to friends as to foes. The use of those animals may be well suited to lazy Asiatics when they go out to fight; but their assistance would be rejected by active Europeans. As war is now conducted, they would be reckoned an incumbrance rather than an advantage. The men of our times rely on the strength of the elephant for works of labour rather than for the enterprise of war; for lifting or carrying great weights; for dragging carriages or waggons over mountains; for assisting to load and unload ships; and for similar works. They are used for show as well as for labour. They are chosen by Eastern monarchs to grace their retinue in public; to carry them and their attendants, when they march from one part of their dominions to another; to display their magnificence when they meet foreign princes; and to secure their safety when they go out to hunt. There is one way in which they were used, not very pleasant to contemplate. The Mogul emperors, and other Eastern monarchs, have made them executioners of the law in capital cases. After the sentence was passed that criminals were to be crushed under the foot of the elephant, that animal, when ordered, executed the sentence. left to itself, however, and not provoked, it wishes to live at peace, and spare life, turning aside with its trunk the most insignificant animal, that it may not trample upon it when it comes in its way.

chap. xl., is the elephant; but others, that the riverhorse is that animal.

The first time that ivory is mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures is in the 45th Psalm, if that Psalm was written prior to the age of Solomon. The eighth verse is thus rendered in the English Bible: "Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad." Ivory palaces, in the original, are palaces of the tooth, i. e., the tooth by way of eminence, or an elephant's tooth. The tusks are intended, but as the ancients had not a distinct name for the tusks, they disputed whether they should call them teeth or horns. They might be called teeth, as they came out of the mouth; and horns, as they were instruments of defence.

The Prophet Ezekiel has been thought to have combined both ideas, in the words occurring in xxvii. 15, translated in the English Bible," they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony;" but some say, that the words ought to be read not as if connected, but as if they were disjoined; the former, according to the Targum, being the horns of rock-goats, and the latter elephants' teeth.

These tusks, whether you call them teeth or horns, are sometimes seven or eight feet in length, and the weight of a single tusk two pounds. The price depends on the quantity of the article, as well as on the taste of the buyer. Palaces of the tooth could not be so large as those of stone, or timber, or mud, as the cost would be enormous, and the material difficult to procure. In fact, they were miniature palaces, similar to the temples of Diana, rendered shrines in the English Bible, and fabricated for her votaries by Demetrius and the craftsmen; or to those pagodas of ivory which some may have seen in this country, when brought by their friends from Canton or Calcutta. These minia. ture palaces were nothing else but cases or boxes in If the shape of palaces, which contained the perfumes of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, by which the king's spirits were exhilarated; and as they were made of polished ivory, they would be elegant as well as costly.

Abundance of ivory was brought from Ophir to Jerusalem by Solomon's fleet of merchant-men, which sailed from Ezion-geber on the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean, and returned in three years. The catalogue of articles which this fleet brought is given in 1 Kings x. 22, and 2 Chron. ix. 21; but doubts have arisen, whether the original term in these two passages rendered ivory in the English Bible, should be rendered elephants, or elephant's tooth. The original word may be literally translated the dusky-skinned animals, or the tooth of dark-coloured animals; so that elephants are pointed at in both translations. In favour of the first translation it may be alleged, that if this fleet brought apes and peacocks, might it not also bring elephants? We reply, that such unwieldy animals could not easily be brought in the small ships of the ancients; and if they had been brought in those of Solomon, we would have been told what he did with them, and how he kept them. As a profound silence is observed on these particulars, we prefer the tooth of elephants, which is the ivory of our translators; and we regret that the tooth of elephants had not been preferred to ivory, because it would have retained the name of this noble animal in the English Bible, as well as conveyed a distinct idea of the origin of this substance to those who perused it. At present they meet with ivory again and again; but the source whence it is supplied is kept out of view, and common people in this country do not always know that ivory is tooth of elephants. According to our ideas of this passage, then, the authors of 1 Kings and 2 Chron. have mentioned the elephant, but we do not suppose that any other sacred writer has mentioned it. Some say that the behemoth of Job,

This account of the ivory palaces receives some illustration from the words of Cant. v. 13, "thy cheeks are as sweet flowers," but more correctly rendered in the margin, "thy cheeks are as towers of perfumes." "These towers," says Mr Harmer, "were cases or boxes, in the shape of towers, in which perfumes were preserved." Little towers were even made of ivory; and as these were very beautiful to behold, the bride's neck is compared to a tower of ivory, in Cant. vii. 4. We might be apt to say, that it was so compared from its whiteness; but as she calls herself black but comely, smoothness and softness might rather give rise to the comparison.

Ivory has been much sought after from the fineness of the grain, as well as from its capacity for polish; and ever highly valued as an article of commerce. That ivory could be turned to domestic convenience, seems to have been early known. If the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem could be trusted, Joseph placed his father Jacob on a bed of ivory; and we agree with the author of Scripture Illustrated,' that ivory might have been brought from India or Ethiopia, and put to useful or elegant uses, as early as the time of Jacob. objection of some weight, the original Hebrew does not countenance this account; and the guesses of commentators may accompany, but cannot occupy the place of the text.

As an

Various articles of convenience and luxury have been made of ivory. It is too precious and rare to be made into vessels of bulk, but out of it have been made smaller vessels both for ornament and use. Various substances have been inlaid with it, that they might appear to the eye to be of ivory; just as baser metals have been overspread with gold or silver, and coarser wood ve、