murmuring against the Lord, he spared them in his love and pity. In the other instance, their guilt was much more aggravated, and an awful punishment ensued. More than a year had intervened since they were indulged with the former supply of quails; manna, the bread of heaven, had been regularly rained down about their tents, an abundant supply, and suited to every taste and to every constitution; so that all were preserved in health, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. But they became ungrateful and discontented, and demanded flesh.-Whenever we become dissatisfied with the allotments of Providence, and inordinately covet any worldly or sensual gratification which Heaven has seen fit to withhold, we may rest assured that we are desiring that which, if bestowed, will be in fierce anger, and pierce us through with many sorrows. Who,' say the turbulent Israelites, 'who shall give us flesh to eat?' Flesh they must have, it seemed, at whatever hazard or expense. The manna they now lothed, and called it light or unsatisfying bread; and even the fare of Egypt was represented as far more abundant and relishing,"We did eat in Egypt freely of cucumbers, and melons, and leeks, and onions, and garlic." Such proneness is there, in the proud discontented heart of man, to be dissatisfied with his present condition, whatever it may be, to magnify the advantages, and overlook the evils, of some former condition, and to envy the advantages enjoyed by others. An addi

tional and highly provoking feature of their murmuring, was,-unbelieving distrust of the divine power of God, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" Moses, not without some degree of impatience and peevishness, carried the case to the Lord, and received an assurance, to convey to the people, that their impetuous demand should be fulfilled; that they should be fed with flesh to the full; not, as in the former case, for one day only, but for a whole month, until they should even lothe it as much as ever they had longed for it. It was the same season of the year as that in which the former miracle was wrought, that of the annual migration of the quails. "And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on each side of the camp, and two cubits in height; so that it occupied the Israelites thirty-six hours in taking them. Having fed plentifully on them fresh, they preserved the remainder by drying; and, from the immense quantity collected, (at least ten homers, or eighty bushels, to each family,) they were doubtless abundantly supplied with a month's provision. But while they were yet feeding luxuriously and intemperately on the provision which they had so inordinately and rebelliously coveted, the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them. A vast number of the most guilty died by a plague, and the place where the occurrence took place was hence denominated Kibroth-hattaavah; that is, the

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graves of lust. See Numbers xi. 4-34. Psalm Ixxviii. 17-31.

Let these awful facts serve as a warning against the indulgence of those sensual propensities, and evil passions, which have been a general source of misery to mankind in all ages, and which have often drawn down, both upon individuals and nations, the signal judgments of a holy and gracious God.

The Peacock.

This bird is generally admitted to be the most beautiful of the feathered race. The peacock is a native of India, thence brought into Persia and Media, and sometimes called by ancient poets, "the Median bird," and the "Persian peacock." Peacocks are still seen in vast flocks, in a wild state, in the islands of Java and Ceylon. They have been sometimes coveted as a delicacy by those who esteem things rather as they are rare and expensive, than intrinsically good. The Grecian emperor, Alexander, was so struck with their beauty, that he imposed a heavy fine on any who should kill or disturb them. Hortensius, the Roman orator, was the first who introduced this expensive luxury at Rome, after which it was considered one of the greatest ornaments of a Roman feast.

The peacock is about the size of a turkey, but much more elegant in its shape and majestic in its