JANUARY, 1846. INTRODUCTORY LINES. WHO would not hail, in cheerful lays, So like a sweet, inviting song, Cold were the heart it would not win What shall we find? Not folly's lore, These shall we find: nor these alone; SOPHIA COOKE ROGERS. THE DELIVERANCE OF ST. PETER. DURING St. Peter's sojourn in Jerusalem, arose a second persecution of the church. Herod, who was now very industriously, and for very good worldly reasons, courting popularity with the Jews, took this as one of the surest means. He began with putting James the brother of John to death; and seeing how much they were gratified with this, he went on to lay hold of Peter also. Perhaps his late transactions with the Gentiles had exasperated against him in particular the hatred of the bigoted Jews. He would also be marked out as the chief of the Apostles. He was thrown into prison to await his trial, which could not come on until after the Passover had been ended. It was at such a season that his blessed Master had suffered before him. How bright then must have been his prisonhours, how joyful the prospect of suffering for his sake! How intimate and how blissful his communion with Him, who having been perfected by suffering, had become the Captain of Salvation, and would bring him unto glory! He was watched with more than common care. The wondrous deliverance which had already attended the Christians, determined their enemies to omit no possible precaution. He was therefore guarded by successive watches, each of four men, two without, and two within, the cell. But, like the seal and guard of his Lord's tomb, such precautions only magnified God's work. The bolts and bars of man have never excluded the visits of angels. In the midst of the night, an angel of the Lord came to him, loosed his chains, and led him through bolted doors out of the prison. Staying only to announce his deliverance to the brethren who were met at Mary's house, he quitted Jerusalem, and went to sojourn at Cæsarea.-Rev. R. W. Evans. BECHUANA SORCERESSES. They THE Bechuanas are very superstitious. have not only their doctors and rainmakers, but their "baloi," that is, sorcerers, or rather sorceresses, as they are chiefly women. Their object is, by the use of certain medicines, to secure prosperity to their families, cattle, and corn-fields; but so much that is cruel and diabolical is mixed up with these practices, that it seems something like the remains of idolatry, and these women the descendants of an order of Priestesses. These sorceresses go about at night, enter houses, and cut the sleeping inmates in various parts of the body, but not so deep as to cause much blood to flow, or produce sufficient pain to awake them, for the Bechuanas are notorious sleepers. They will take infants from their mother's bosom, and strangle or murder them in most horrible ways. Not long since, a child was taken from its sleeping mother, strangled, placed upon a fire, and literally roasted. They will attack a sick man, and, with the iron instruments used for picking their fields, beat him in such a manner that in a few days he will die, not of his sickness, but of his wounds. Yet such is the fear entertained of these individuals, and such the magic power attributed to them, that they are seldom punished or even accused. They also dig up dead bodies, burn them, and sprinkle the ashes upon their gardens. They likewise make use of human bones as chains. The office appears to be hereditary, descending from mother to daughter, and from them to their grandaughters. When they get old, they sit at home and instruct the younger ones. There is at the present time in the village, an old woman, who is never to be seen: she remains secreted in the hut of her daughter, who with her children are notorious sorceresses.-Extract of a Letter from South Africa. SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS. No. I. THE POTTER'S FIELD. MATT. XXVII. 7. "And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in."-Mr. Samuel, in his Missionary tour through the desert of Arabia to Bagdad, observes, that on this spot Dr. Wild discovered, in 1839, a cave, containing a great number of skulls, which, according to his statements, were not those of Jews, but of foreigners. By this circumstance the fact was established, that this is the very field which was bought for the thirty pieces of silver, paid to Judas as the reward of his treason. Since then, many others have visited the cave, and new chambers have been discovered, where the bones of thousands lie mouldering. In fact, the vicinity of Jerusalem |