16 The snorting of his horses was heard from "Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and "all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein. 17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD. 18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint "in me. 16 Chap. 4. 15. 19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people "because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities? 20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. 21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people "recovered? 15 Chap. 14. 19. 19 Heb. upon. Heb. gone up. Verse 7. "Stork."-See the notes on Lev. xi. 19, Ps. civ. 17, and the figure under Job xxxix. "Turtle" (tur).-The Columba turtur is found in all the warmer climates, from whence it follows the sun in his progress towards the tropic, and visits higher latitudes, to adorn and usher in the spring. The turtle is remarkable for the elegance and delicacy of its form, and is from ancient usage associated in our minds with everything that is tender, chaste, and attractive. It is a bird of passage, hence its appearance in certain places is among the indications of spring-a circumstance interwoven in that charming description of that season which occurs in Canticles ii, 11-13 The turtle visits this country, and after having reared her young in the seclusion of our woods, retires, in September to pass the winter under softer skies. "Crane" y agur).-The Grus cinerea of Linnæus has long been celebrated for the wisdom and foresight displayed in its migrations. It is spread over all the regions of the old continent, taking shelter in the warmer parts in the winter, from whence it proceeds in the spring to its well-known haunts and breeding-place. The crane belongs to ong-legged order of birds, called Grallatores, that find their prey by wading in the water. It is a noble bird, with e sweeping tail, and plumage of a dark grey colour, except on the crown of the head, which is bare, and tinted red. It constructs its nest among the reeds, flags, and river herbage, which fringe the banks of watery places. eggs are two in number, and are of a pale dull greenish colour, blotched with brown. There is a peculiar turn, is it were a doubling, in the trachea or windpipe, intended, as it would seem, to give an extraordinary force to the efforts of the bird, insomuch that its voice can be often heard while the individual is soaring far beyond the ken e gazer's eye. Swallow” (DD sis; Sept. xıλidwv äygov).—The Hirundo rustica of Linnæus, which is too well known, in form and s, to render a particular notice necessary on this occasion. This bird, which remains with us till October, is said nter in Africa, so that its object is evidently a warmer climate. It is remarkable that the birds of this tribe, when revisit us in spring, return to their old haunts. Dr. Jenner ascertained this by cutting off two claws from the of a certain number, several of which were found in the following year, and one was met with after the expiration ven years. (See Kirby's 'Bridgewater Treatise.") This is true also of the storks, as we observed the same pair n, in successive years, to the nest they had constructed upon the wind-chimney of a house we inhabited at lad. he subject of the migration of birds, which is several times referred to in the Scripture, is one of great interest; has been employed by writers on natural theology, as furnishing striking evidence of design and wisdom in the ion and organization of living things The devout reader of the Bible needs no such evidence; yet even to him is much in it that may be made valuable, and which he will feel to be beautiful. As Mr. Kirby, in his 'Bridger Treatise,' has taken up the subject with this view, we have judged it proper to derive from him the substance he few observations for which we can find room. Ithough the instances of migration here mentioned by the prophet, are those most popularly known, the practice ates to a far greater extent than is usually supposed; and if Dr. Richardson's scale for North America be taken rule of more extended application, it may be estimated that the number of the birds which migrate, as compared those which reside the whole year in a country, is about five-sixths; a very large proportion, but which is doubtess in some latitudes than in others. As the summer residents are replaced by winter ones, the desertion is less rent and annoying than it would be otherwise. It has usually been conceived that the cause of such extensive ation was to be sought no further than in the changes of temperature, gradually produced by the progress of the ns, and the growing scarcity of food resulting from it. But this cannot be the sole or universal cause, since there irds which leave us early in the year, when no cold can be felt, and even when the food of the particular species ist abundant. From such and other observations, the celebrated Dr. Jenner arrived at the conclusion (stated in a umous paper, published in the Philosophical Transactions,' 1824) that the periodical migrations of birds are the t, not of the approach of the cold or hot seasons, but of the absence or presence of a stimulus connected with the nal law, “Increase and multiply :”—and that when they feel this stimulus, they seek the summer, and when it ceases tion, their winter quarters. In one case, the bird winging its way to a climate and country best suited to the purpose impressed upon it by the Creator, of producing and rearing a progeny; and, in the other, returning to ne most congenial to its nature and best supplying its wants. It will be difficult to withhold assent from this rehensive principle, after a perusal of the various arguments and corroborations adduced by Dr. Jenner, and which re necessarily constrained to omit. e cannot omit the observations with which Mr. Kirby concludes his general view of this instructive and interesting ct: If we give the subject of the migration of animals due consideration, and reflect what would be the consequence animals ever changed their quarters, we shall find abundant reason for thankfulness to the Almighty Father of Universe, for the care he has taken of his whole family, and of his creature man in particular, consulting not only Fustentation and the gratification of his palate, by multiplying and varying his food, but also that of his other 3, by the beauty. motions, and music of the animals that are his summer or winter visiters: did the nightingale ke our groves; the swallow, our houses and gardens; the cod-fish, mackerel, salmon, and herring, our seas; and e other animals that occasionally visit their several haunts, how vast would be the abstraction from the pleasure comfort of our lives! By means of these migrations, the profits and enjoyments derivable from the animal creation are also more equally ed-at one season visiting the south, and enlivening their winter; and at another adding to the vernal and sumdelights of the inhabitants of the less genial regions of the north, and making up to him for the privations of r. Had the Creator so willed, all these animals might have been organized so as not to require a warmer or a climate for the breeding or rearing of their young: but his will was, that some of his best gifts should thus ate, as it were, between two points, that the benefits they conferred might be the more widely distributed, and ecome the sole property of the inhabitants of one climate: thus the swallow gladdens the sight both of the Briton African; and the herring visits the coasts, and the salmon the rivers of every region of the globe. What can strongly mark design, and the intention of an all-powerful, all-wise, and beneficent Being, than that such a y of animals should be so organized and circumstanced as to be directed annually, by some pressing want, to distant climates; and, after a certain period, to return again to their former quarters; and that this instinct d be productive of so much good to mankind, and at the same time be necessary, under its present circumstances. e preservation or propagation of the species of these several animals ?” 3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD. 4 Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. 5 And they will 'deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD. 7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? 8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh 'deceit : one speaketh 'peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth 'his wait. 910Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the "habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are 18 burned that up, so none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone. 11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah 15desolate, without an inhabitant. hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, "with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them. 17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come : 18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. 20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation. 21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. 22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them. 23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24 But "let him that glorieth glory in 12 Who is the wise man, that may unthis, that he understandeth and knoweth derstand this? and who is he to whom the me, that I am the LORD which exercise mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousmay declare it, for what the land perishethness, in the earth: for in these things I deand is burned up like a wilderness, that light, saith the LORD. none passeth through? 13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; 14 But have walked after the "imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of Or, friend. 5 Or, mock. 25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will "punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; 26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. 3 Chap. 12. 6. Mic. 7.5, 6. Psal. 12. 2, and 120.3. 7 Psal. 28. 3. 8 Heb. in the midst of him. Or, wait for him. 10 Chap. 5. 9, 29. 11 Or, pastures. 18 Or, desolate. 13 Heb. from the fowl even to, &c. 14 Chap. 10. 12, 16 Or, stubbornness. 17 Chap. 8. 14, and 23. 15. 18 Levit. 26. 33. 19 1 Cor. 1. 31. 2 Cor. 10. 17. 21 Heb. cut off into corners, or, having the corners of their hair polled. 22 Chap. 25. 23. Rom. 2. 28, 29. 15 Heb. desolation. 20 Heb. visit upon. Verse 17. "Call for the mourning women.”—This, with several other passages of Scripture, evidently refers to the very ancient and still subsisting custom of hiring professed mourners to lament over the dead. The Jewish doctors acknow ledge the custom, and inform us that it was so common, that the poorest man in Israel, when his wife died, never had less than two pipes and one mourning woman. The root of this rather singular though very prevalent custom seems to be, that the eastern nations require manifestations of strong feeling to be marked, palpable, and exaggerated. Hence their emotions, particularly those of grief, have a most violent and loud expression; and still unsatisfied, and apprehensive that their own spontaneous manifestations of sorrow, when a death occurred, were inadequate to the occasion, and rendered insufficient honour to the dead, they thought of employing practised women to add their effective and manifest tributes of apparent grief. Thus mourning became an art, which devolved on women of shrill voices, copious of tears, and skilful in lamenting and praising the dead in mournful songs and eulogies. When a person in a family died, it was customary for the female relatives to seat themselves upon the ground in a separate apartment, in a circle, in the centre of which sat the wife, daughter, or other nearest relative, and thus, assisted by the mourning women, conducted their loud and piercing lamentations. At intervals, the mourning women took the leading part, on a signal from the chief mourner; and then the real mourners remained comparatively silent, but attested their grief by sobs, by beating their faces, tearing their hair, and sometimes wounding their persons with their nails, joining also aloud in the lamenting chorus of the hired mourners. Mr. Lane's account of the existing practice in Egypt is very illustrative. "The family of the deceased generally send for two or more neddábehs (or public wailing women); but some persons disapprove of this custom; and many, to avoid unnecessary expense, do not conform with it. Each neddabeh brings with her a tár (or tambourine), which is without the tinkling plates of metal that are attached to the hoops of the common tár. The neddábehs, beating their társ, exclaim several times, Alas for him!' and praise his turban. his handsome person, &c.; and the female relations, domestics, and friends of the deceased (with their tresses dishevelled, and sometimes with rent clothes), beating their own faces, cry in like manner. Alas for him!' This wailing is generally continued at least an hour." It is of course resumed at intervals. The details vary in different parts of the East, and in some places the musicians form a separate body, as they did among the Hebrews. The custom of employing hired mourners was also in use among the Greeks and Romans, who probably borrowed it from the East. Some of the Roman usages may contribute to illustrate those of Scripture. When a person expired whom his relatives or friends wished to honour by every external testimony of grief, some mourners were called, who were stationed at the door, and who, being instructed in the leading circumstances of the life of the deceased, composed and chanted eulogies having some reference to these circumstances, but in which flattery was by no means spared. Then, when the time arrived for the body to be carried to the funerai pile, a choir of hired mourners attended, who by their bare breasts, which they often smote, their dishevelled hair, and their mournful chants, and profuse tears, moved, or sought to move, the minds of the spectators in favour of the deceased. and to compassion for his bereaved friends, whose respect for his memory their own presence indeed indicated. These women were under the direction of one who bore the title of prafica, who regulated the time and tone of their lamentations. They were attired in the black robe of mourning and affliction, called by the Romans pulla. It will be observed that, as intimated by the prophet in the next verse, a principal object of the displays of the hired mourners was to rouse the sorrow of the bereaved relatives, maintaining the excitement of affliction by enumerating the virtues and qualities of the deceased, as well as, by the same means, to excite the sympathising lamentations of those not immediately interested in the event. It needs actual observation of the gaiety or indifference which these hired mourners resume, when their service has ended, to be convinced that there was nothing sincere in the real tears which they shed, and in the "lamentation, mourning, and woe" which they pour forth in the chamber of grief, or when following the dead one to the grave. CHAPTER X. 1 The unequal comparison of God and idols. 17 The prophet exhorteth to flee from the calamity to come. 19 He lamenteth the spoil of the tabernacle by foolish pastors. 23 He maketh an humble supplication. HEAR ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 6 Forasmuch as there is none 'like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might. 7 'Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for 'to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. 8 But they are altogether 'brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities. 9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the 3 For the 'customs of the people are vain: work of the workman, and of the hands of for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the the founder: blue and purple is their clothwork of the hands of the workman, withing: they are all the work of cunning men. the ax. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. 1 Heb. statutes or ordinances are vanity. * 7 Or, it liketh thee. Heb, in one, or, at once. Psai. 115. 5. 9 Isa. 41. 29 10 But the LORD is the "true God, he is the living God, and an "everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. 11 Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. 8 Isa. 46. 1, 7. 4 Isa. 41. 23. Hab. 2. 18. Zech. 10. 2. 5 Psal. 86. 8, 10. 6 Rev. 15. 4. 10 Heb. God of truth. 11 Heb. king of eternity. 3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD. 4 "Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. 5 And they will 'deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6 Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD. 7 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? 8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh 'deceit : one speaketh 'peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth 'his wait. 9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? 10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the "habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are "burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone. 11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah "desolate, without an inhabitant. hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, "with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them. 17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Consider and call for the mourning women, ye, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come: 18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out. 20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbour lamentation. 21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets. 22 Speak, Thus saith the LORD, Even the carcases of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them. 23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches : 24 But let him that glorieth glory in 12 ¶ Who is the wise man, that may unthis, that he understandeth and knoweth derstand this? and who is he to whom the me, that I am the LORD which exercise mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousmay declare it, for what the land perishethness, in the earth: for in these things I deand is burned up like a wilderness, that light, saith the LORD. none passeth through? 13 And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; 14 But have walked after the "imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of 25 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will "punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; 26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are "in the "utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. 3 Chap. 12. 6. Mic. 7.5, 6. 4 Or, friend. 5 Or, mock. 6 Psal. 12. 2, and 120.3. 7 Psal. 28. 3. 8 Heb. in the midst of him. Or, wait for him. 10 Chap. 5. 9, 29. 11 Or, pastures. 18 Or, desolate. 13 Heb. from the fowl even to, &c. 14 Chap. 10. 29, 16 Or, stubbornness. 17 Chap. 8. 14, and 23. 15. 18 Levit. 26. 33. 19 1 Cor. 1. 31. 2 Cor. 10. 17. 21 Heb. cut off into corners, or, having the corners of their hair polled. 22 Chap. 25. 23. 23 Rom. 8. 28, 29. 15 Heb. desolation. 20 Heb. visit upon. Verse 17. "Call for the mourning women.”—This, with several other passages of Scripture, evidently refers to the very |