ordination. The sentence was this:-" Now, young man, you must cry a sale of character." This sentiment, so enigmatically expressed, was, however, clearly explained to him by the trying events which occurred at Buckingham.

(To be Continued.)

Scripture Illustrated.

BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.

Several passages of scripture illustrated drawn from the customs of the people of Egypt, and other places, extracted from Mr. JOWETT'S "Christian Researches."

CUCUMBERS."Extensive fields of ripe melons and cucumbers adorned the sides of the river. They grew in such abundance, that the sailors freely helped themselves. Some guard, however, is placed upon them. Occasionally, but at long and desolate intervals, we may observe a little hut, made of reeds, just capable of containing one man; being, in fact, little more than a fence against a north wind. In these I have observed, sometimes, a poor old man, perhaps lame, feebly protecting the property. It exactly illustrates Isaiah i. 8: And the daughter of Zion is left.......... as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers.' The abundance of these most necessary vegetables brings to mind the murmurs of the Israelites, Numbers xi. 5, 6: 'We remember the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: but now our soul is dried away."

SUGAR-CANE. "We moored near Radamun, which lies between Minïe and Manfelout, to see the factory of an Englishman, Mr. BRINE; where we were kindly received. There are many thousands of acres of sugar-cane in these parts. Allusion to this production is made in Jeremiah vi. 20: To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country?" It is also mentioned in Isaiah xliii. 24: Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money.' The West-Indies were not then known."

EGYPTIAN LABOURERS.-"From hence, we rowed, about three miles, to Hermopolis, to see the first magnificent relic of Egyptian Architecture. In the village of Ashmounin, close adjoining, an Italian, SIGNOR FOURNI, Superintends a Nitre Factory for the Bashaw. It is collected, by a triple process, from the rubbish of old cities. Hermopolis is such; of which, not a single house, nor even one stone upon another, remains, except the abovementioned ruin. SIGNOR FOURNI had just received an order for 3000 quintals to be prepared with haste. For this purpose he was building small reservoirs and ducts, with old picked bricks,

gathered from ruins; and which are better than the modern baked bricks. A great number of young persons of both sexes were engaged in the work, carrying burdens. To give vivacity to their proceedings, they are required to sing; and, to keep them diligent, there were task-masters, standing at intervals of about ten feet, with whips in their hands, which they used very freely. We seemed to behold the manners of the ancient Egyptians: Exodus v."

SEPULCHRES.-HIEROGLYPHICS.-" Further in the recesses of the mountains, are the more magnificent tombs of the Kings; each consisting of many chambers, adorned with hieroglyphics. The scene brings many allusions of Scripture to the mind; such as Mark v. 2, 3, 5; but particularly Isaiah xxii. 16: 'Thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a Sepulchre on high, and that graveth a habitation for himself in a rock;' for many of the smaller sepulchres are excavated nearly half way up the mountain, which is very high. The Kings have their magnificent abodes nearer the foot of the mountain; and seem, according to Isaiah xiv. 18, to have taken a pride in resting as magnificently in death as they had done in life. All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory; every one in his own house.' The stuccoed walls within are covered with hieroglyphics. They cannot be better described than in the words of Ezekiel viii. 8-10: Then said he unto me, Son of Man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in; and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.' The Israelites were but copyists: the master-sketches are to be seen in all the ancient temples and tombs of Egypt.-It is remarkable that Scripture gives no explanation of the particular meaning of the hieroglyphics. Moses, no doubt, who was 'learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,' must have understood their sacred science; yet he furnishes us with no specific clue,nothing but the general condemnation of them, as idolatrous in the highest degree: Deut. iv. 15, &c. The wisdom of man seems, in this cradle of the sciences, to have betrayed its genuine tendency; and the monuments of Egypt are a durable comment on the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans.

"March 20. HARVEST. The barley-harvest was getting in. This may explain Jer. viii. 20: as the harvest precedes the summer, it is put first in the description:.' The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.'

Under the head of Scripture-Illustrations, Mr. JOWETT has the following. The author thus introduces them :

"Some notices, in illustration of the Scriptures, have occurred in the preceding Journal. The Author will here subjoin others of this nature. The circumstances struck him forcibly, as portions of that mass of evidence which is furnished, both to the truth and the meaning of the sacred records, not only by the unchanging face of nature, but by the indelible character of Eastern manners. It is a remarkable fact, the value of which, in testimony to the Scriptures, the Christian will know how to appreciate, that the Bible is the very text-book of the most intelligent travellers in these countries. The Author has seen copies of the sacred volume in their hands, which have not only served, as it may be hoped, the higher purpose of ministering daily to the spiritual life, but have shown, by the manner in which they have been marked throughout, that they have been their constant guides through the scenes which they have visited."

BUFFALOES." At Molubis, on the east bank of the Nile, I observed a cattle-fair. Several buffaloes were swimming, from the opposite side, across the water. Their unwieldy body sinks deep in the water, so that only part of the neck is level with the surface; while their uplifted head just raises the snorting nostrils above the water. Often, a little Arab boy takes his passage across the Nile upon the back of this animal; setting his feet on the shoulders, holding fast by the horns, and thus keeping his balance. As the buffaloes rose out of the water on the bank, I was struck with their large bony size, compared with the little that had appeared of them while in the water. Their emerging brought to mind the passages in Gen. xli. 1, 2: 'Behold, he stood by the river and, behold, there came up out of the river seven well-favoured kine and fat-fleshed; and they fed in a meadow." It was the very scene and the very country.'

CORN. "The earth brought forth by handfuls:' Gen. xli. 47. This I witnessed. I plucked up at random, a few stalks out of the thick corn-fields. We counted the number of stalks, which sprouted from single grains of seed; carefully pulling to pieces each root, in order to see that it was but one plant. The first had seven stalks; the next, three; the next, nine; then eighteen ; then fourteen. Each stalk would bear an ear."

BRICKS MADE WITH STRAW." At one place, the people were making bricks, with straw cut into small pieces, and mingled with the clay to bind it. Hence it is, that, when villages built of these bricks fall into rubbish, which is often the case, the roads are full of small particles of straws, extremely offensive to the eyes in a high wind. They were, in short, engaged exactly as the Israelites used to be, making bricks with straw; and for a similar purpose, to build extensive granaries for the Bashaw: treasurecities for PHARAOH: Exod. i. 11."

ARK OF MUD and reeds.—" Our boat was ballasted with earth taken from the river-banks,―very stiff and rich soil, without stones.

With this same mud the sides of the boat were plastered, at those parts in the forehalf of the vessel where moveable planks were placed, in order to raise the gunnel higher: the mud filled up the crevices, and prevented the water from gushing in, as would otherwise be the case. This mud was so rich and slimy, and when dry so firm and impervious, that, together with the strong reed that grows on the banks, it is easy to conceive how the mother of MOSES Constructed a little ark which would float: she then placed it among the flags, in order that the stream might it down: Exod. ii. 3."

not carry

TASK-MASTERS." The Mâllems transact business between the Bashaw and the peasants. He punishes them, if the peasants prove that they oppress; and yet he requires from them that the work of those who are under them shall be fulfilled. They strikingly illustrate the case of the officers, placed by the Egyptian task-masters over the children of Israel; and, like theirs, the Mâllems often find their case is evil. See Exod. v. 6—29.”

RISING OF THE NILE. "Jeremiah xlvi. 7, 8, is a fine image, taken from the rising of the Nile."

FORESTS." Verses 22 and 23 of the same chapter point out one of the most effectual ways of subduing Egypt. The countless multitude of date-trees, which form even forests about some of the villages, furnish a great source of subsistence to the people. To cut these down. (as it is said the French were proceeding to do, and would have done, but that the people surrendered at the prospect of this utter ruin,) would be to cut off the support of the present, and the hopes of a future generation. Nothing could be more terrible than this denunciation against Egypt.They shall march with an army, and come against her with axes as hewers of wood: they shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, though it cannot be searched: because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.''-Wesleyan M. Mag.

*

The Attributes of God Displayed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TORNADO,

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE WEATHER ON THE COAST OF AFRICA.

(From the Annals of Philosophy.)

FROM local peculiarities in the state of the weather on those parts of the coast of Africa, extending from the River Sierra Leone to the Equator, it is usual to divide the year into seasons of a denomination different from other parts of the globe; in place of spring, summer, autumn and winter, they are here called the tornado, rainy, foggy, second or after rains, and fine seasons.

The tornado season sets in about the middle of April, and continues to the middle of June: at this time these violent convul

sions in the atmosphere are frequent; rarely two days pass without one being experienced; and even in the early parts of the month of April, they are sometimes felt. The load of vapour from which the atmosphere is unburdened by them, renders the air pure and wholesome; and the rain which falls in torrents for the space of an hour dries up so immediately, that they may be deemed as contributing much to the salubrity of the climate.

These violent convulsions in the atmosphere so terrific to sailors, and which would be no less so to landsmen, if the state of cultivation was so far advanced as to expose the husbandman's labour to the ravages of these dreadful tempests, first show themselves on the eastern quarter of the horizon by a deep black cloud heavily charged with electric fluid. This cloud continues increasing in size, sometimes for an hour or two before it is put in motion, and constantly emitting vivid flashes of lightning, accompanied by heavy and distant thunder. After a time, it rises a little above the horizon, to which its lower edge is parallel, and extremely black, and there remains stationary for a short time; when it is again put in motion. The most frightful flashes of forked lightning, accompanied by the heaviest possible claps of thunder, now issue from it in rapid succession. When it has reached a little beyond the zenith, a sudden chill is felt in the temperature, and then follows a more violent squall, or gust of wind and rain, than the most fertile imagination can picture; but which seldom lasts longer than half an hour. On shore, all animated nature seems extinct; nothing is seen, nothing is heard; every creature, whether man, bird, or beast, having sought refuge and shelter from the approaching storm: but no sooner is it over than the air, which was before close and sultry, becomes so delightfully pure and invigorating as to re-animate the whole animal creation.

About the middle of June, the rainy season commences, and continues to the beginning, and sometimes even to the latter end of November. From the little cessation of rain which takes place during this period, the ground soon becomes drenched, and from it a miasma arises which engenders those pestilential remittent fevers so destructive of human life in this part of the world.

As the rains begin to subside, they are succeeded by thick hazy weather, arising from a rapid evaporation of the moisture still remaining in the ground.

About the latter end of December, and during the whole of January, a wind occasionally blows, possessing properties, and attended by circumstances, peculiar to itself; it is known by the name of the Harmatan, and blows from the eastward with considerable strength. It is always attended by thick hazy weather; notwithstanding which it is so dry and parching, that all woodwork warps and shrinks, and if united by glue, becomes detached. Paper and books appear as if they had been placed close by a