SKETCH IN AFRICA.

THE very name of Africa prepares us for danger and death. There roll the mighty Nile, the Niger, the Zaire, the Senegal, and the Gambia, their majestic floods. There are spread the vast, the lonely, the heart-appalling deserts of burning sand. There flies the pestilence abroad on the wings of the fierce winds; and man, and beast, and bird, are oppressed by all-subduing heat, and allconsuming thirst. The toil-enduring Arab, the patient abstemious camel, and the keen-eyed, heat-bearing ostrich, are overcome and overwhelmed in the insufferable glare and scorching atmosphere of the wilderness. We have threaded the winding mazes of the Fish river, and pierced the unbroken solitudes of the dark forests that skirt its banks; we have wandered a thousand miles from the Cape, and are now in Cafferland. How strange! how wild! how beautiful! The river rushes over the projecting rocks in romantic falls, enlivening the dark waters with snowy foam. The cliff to the right is fearfully high, and steep, and craggy; and the road winds round its very brink. What a pile of stupendous mountains rise in the distance, and how varied is the scene with wood and water, hill and valley. The tamarind, the walnut, and the thorny mimosa blend their branches with the banana, the date, and the cocoa nut. The vulture screams from the riven branch of a tree blasted by the lightning, and the flamingo sports his fiery plumage in the sun.

Even here the same God reigneth omnipotently as in European lands. His are the immeasurable deserts and solitary wildernesses, as well as the fertile places of the earth, peopled with unnumbered nations! "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised," 2 Chron. xvi. 25.

Right before us, yonder, is a missionary station; and on the left is another still more delightfully situated. Yes, here is the word of the Lord known; here the glad tidings of salvation are spread abroad. The heathen shall be the inheritance of the Redeemer, and "the uttermost parts of the earth be his possession." Hark! that was a musket shot! See, there are two men running at their utmost speed. What a fearful crash was that among the branches of the forest trees; they are pursued by a wounded elephant, from whose side the blood is gushing forth. Dreadful! he has overtaken one of them! he pierces

him with his tusks! he smites him with his trunk! he tramples him to death in his rage. Well for us that we are standing on this elevated ground, and yet even here we are not free from danger, unless we can say, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble," Psa. xlvi.

How helpless is man in these fearful solitudes, unless he carries arms to defend himself, and even then how great is his danger! Not far from this place an officer and his party were massacred by the fierce natives; their death is recorded on the fast-decaying tablets whic are erected over their graves. Look! look! yonder is a lion stealing with stealthy paces towards the fountain where the buffaloes are drinking; they cannot escape him, he must have come upon them from that dark ravine in the forest; what a size! what a shaggy mane! He is hidden now by the thick brushwood. Let us hasten on, we must wind up the cliff, yonder, after the travelling wagon drawn by oxen; the road is on the very edge of the precipice. There is a fort somewhere in this part of the country, where troops are stationed to intercept the predatory bands of natives on their way to the colony. A market is held to supply the soldiers, and when the signal is given, a hundred or two of the natives plunge into the river, swimming across it with milk, sacks of grain, pumpkins, Indian corn, just plucked from the stalk, and other produce of the country, for which the soldiers give in exchange coloured beads, buttons, brass wire, and odd bits and scraps of iron. On the second signal, all the natives again plunge into the water, and recross the river.

Do you see the little huts erected among the branches of yonder great tree? They are places of protection for the natives when pursued by lions. In those dirty pools there, the elephants sport themselves; water is refreshing in all places, but especially in such a sultry clime as this. Never, sure, did the eye gaze on a more imposing scene! the winding river appears more beautiful than ever. God is here, his glory is beaming from the skies, and his greatness is inscribed upon every part of his wondrous creation. "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 created," Rev. iv. 11.

What a commotion there is yonder, down in the valley! The Caffers are hastening to defend their cattle kraal, menaced as it is by a party descending the zig-zag and broken pathway from the mountains; and see further down, on the very verge of the river, they are spearing the hippopotamus with their long lances. Danger and annoyance seem written on every place; in the desert is the lion; in the wood are the rhinoceros, the leopard, and the noxious snake; in the water is the crocodile. Where can we go without finding swarms of innumerable insects, and then, this oppressive sultriness! Yet here has the missionary wandered; and here has he pitched his tent. Drawn by his blameless life, and won by his friendly offices, the fierce natives gather round him with confidence. He learns their language, exposes the sinfulness of their idolatry, and points them to "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," John i. 29.

APPEARANCE OF THE SEA.

FEW Englishmen, who have not extended their nautical excursions to more than a hundred miles beyond the mouth of the British Channel, can form any correct idea of the appearance the sea presents throughout the greatest portion of the globe; or how little applicable is the term " sea-green," when the shallow and troubled waters of our own coast are exchanged for the clear and deep blue bosom of fathomless ocean. In the latter, the vast expanse of fluid presents one uninterrupted field of a lapis lazuli tint, the ultra marine of painters; and its lifting waves, crested with foam, bear a close resemblance to robes of the richest purple, edged with swansdown, or fine lace.

This intense blueness of the ocean has been ascribed to the salts of iodine contained in sea water; but it is more probable that the blue of our atmosphere, or sky, and that of the deep sea, have both the same origin, namely, the clearness and vast accumulation of their respective elements.-Bennett.

THE SCOFFERS.

AMONG the statements of the inspired volume, which have suggested difficulties to the mind of the devout reader, and

also furnished material for infidel objection, are the following, which relate to the prophet Elisha, after his leaving "And he went up the city of Jericho. from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them," 2 Kings ii. 23, 24. The objector to Divine revelation has therefore portrayed a number of children, who, struck by the appearance of an aged man's head, surrounded him in sport, and gaily reminded him of the aspect of years, and then Elisha, as opposed to their mirth, pouring out his malediction, and quickly destroying them by the wild beasts of the forest. Nor can it be doubted, that other persons, of a far different character, have been unable to reconcile this act with the spirit of that prophet who, when called to attend Elijah, left the field he was ploughing, to kiss his father and mother; and who, when relieving the wants of the indigent widow, and raising the child of the Shunammite to life, discovered the tenderness of true benevolence. Attention is consequently solicited to the following considerations.

In the first place, there is good reason to conclude, that the offenders were not little children. The term rendered "little"

is frequently used to distinguish the young from those more advanced in years, and that, translated children, is often employed for servants and young men. Isaac is described by the same word, when twenty-eight years old; when, too, Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh, he is said to have been "a young man, servant to the captain of the guard;" ;" and here also it is used. As properly, moreover, might Joshua, when ministering in the tabernacle, and mighty in valour, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, or Rehoboam, when forty years of age, have been denominated children, as these dwellers in Bethel, since the word employed, in reference to them, is used in these and similar instances. Nor is such a mode of representation confined to the Hebrew. In our old English language, we find an analogy to it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were, doubtless, of mature age, when they were

"set over the affairs of the province of Babylon;" yet what they are said, in the Apocrypha, to have sung in the fiery furnace, is called "The Song of the three Children.' Again, there is no evidence, that Elisha was an old man; on the contrary, there is room to think he was not so; for but little time could have elapsed since he was found by Elijah following a team of oxen and guiding the plough, and requested, when the mantle was cast upon him, that he might embrace his parents, in all the warmth of filial affection. It is therefore probable, that Elisha had shaved his head, either as an indication of his prophetic character, or from some vow connected with religion; besides which it is equally probable, that the phrase go up," was a reference in derision to the translation of Elijah which had recently taken place.

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Still further, it should be observed, that the schemes of Jeroboam had been carried into effect. He saw, that as long as Jerusalem was the place of national worship, it might again become the centre of the national union. The Levitical class, who constantly went up to the temple in their courses, and the religion itself, were therefore bonds that must be dissolved; a separate kingdom must have a separate priesthood, and also a separate place and establishment for separate purposes. To this end, Jeroboam set up a golden calf in the central position of Bethel, as well as one in the remote city of Dan, made priests of the lowest of the people, and rendered the maintenance of an idolatrous ritual, a source of temporal advantage to them. To the idolaters of Bethel, Elisha would therefore appear a determined adversary; and the uniform derision of these scoffers may, consequently, be regarded as the expression of feelings of hostility, not merely to him, but to the God whom he served.

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Can it then excite surprise that " tence against an evil work," was in this case executed "speedily;" or that the character of the doom was adapted to strike terror into the hearts of the impenitent? "Two she bears," it is said, came out of the wood, and tare," it does not say devoured, forty and two children of them." Doubtless Elisha, in invoking vengeance, acted under a Divine impulse; and hence his conduct in this case harmonized with his spirit and office as prophet of the Lord, and also with the dispensations of the moral Governor of the universe.

Let no one trifle, then, with the things of God. "Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" Among all the multitude of persons accounted profane, not one was ever believed, by any competent judge, because of his other conduct, to be a virtuous man. Their practice, indeed, corrupted them in other respects most deplorably, and set on fire the whole course of nature in their minds and their lives. "A profane person" is, therefore, proverbial language to denote a course of fearful enormity. And shall not Jehovah visit for these things? He has declared that he will not be mocked with impunity. And it behoves every scoffer to pause and to repent, lest vengeance, like that which fell on the transgressors at Bethel, in its object, though not in its manifestation, should alight on him.-W.

A VACANT PLACE.

A KING gave a great supper on the marriage of his son, but those who had been invited refused to come. He then sent his servant to call others from the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in all whom he found. He did so, and yet there was room. Luke xiv. 16-24.

Reader! God is that King; Christ is that Son. The Jews were invited to honour the Saviour, but they refused; and the ministers of the Lord were therefore commanded to proclaim to all the world, a general, free, and cordial invitation to come and partake of the blessings which the Father, by the agency of the Son had provided for them. Millions have accepted the kind and gracious offer; daily and hourly numbers are sitting down at the marriage table of the Son of God in the kingdom of heaven. Yet is not every place at that illustrious board taken; “yet there is room;" room for you. And you are invited to occupy it. The voice of the God of infinite love addresses you, assuring you of a hearty welcome, if you accept his conditions unreservedly, and without delay. No invitation is given for a future day. It is now that you are invited, because now all things are ready. The feast is prepared, the table is set.

It was a high honour to be asked to the royal banquet; it is a much greater one to be called to the supper of the Lamb. And this last is offered to you. Know you the conditions?

God has sent forth his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, and whosoever

believeth in him is assured of pardon, and of the privilege of sharing in all the blessedness of heaven. Faith in the promise of God, then, is the condition annexed to the invitation. He that believes shall be saved.

Reader, do you believe in the Son of God? Are you willing to accept him and his offered mercy, and will you gladly, at his call, turn from the world and sin, and follow him? Then be assured he will receive you. There is room in his house for you.

But perhaps you pause. You think you have sinned away all his mercy, and that there cannot be pardon for you. Oh! suppose not this. Although many have been forgiven, Divine mercy is not exhausted. You may say to yourself, "Ah! those around me may enter heaven, and thousands are pressing thither, and are happy; but I fear there will be no place for me. I have tarried too long." Say not so. Yet there is room.

The invitations of the blessed gospel are not addressed to any one class of persons specifically, to the exclusion of all the rest; so that you need not suppose that you, whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned, aged or young, are not addressed. This is the language of Divine mercy, Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," Isa. lv. 1.

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There is but one class to whom the of fers of the gospel are not made. Jesus distinctly asserts that to them he does not address himself. Perhaps you are thinking you belong to that very people. I trust not. But judge for yourself. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance," Mark ii. 17. You feel quite sure you are not among this exempted class, then you must regard yourself as included in the call which the Saviour does make to the rest of mankind-to sinners.

Now you may have often heard the invitations of the ministers of the gospel, speaking in the name of their sovereign Master; and as often, like those who were first called to the feast mentioned in the parable, have found some excuse for not complying with the request. Oh! if God had turned from you, and forbad you ever afterwards to taste, as he did them, Luke xiv. 24, yours would be an appalling condition. But God has been rich in mercy towards you, and with infinite condescension has repeated his invitation. hold, I stand at the door, and knock," he cries, Rev. iii. 20. "Come; for all things are now ready," Luke xiv. 17.

The vacant place that is yet seen at the table of the Lord invites you. What should hinder your taking possession of a seat with that august assembly, which has already gathered together to do honour to the Son of God? It is indeed an illustrious company! "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues." Priests, and prophets, and kings are there, sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the Saviour himself presiding over all, the centre of all eyes, the admired, the beloved of all hearts.

What is it that has been hindering you from accepting the pressing and reiterated invitations of God? Whatever it is, it is something wrong; something that he hates. Oh! will you cherish that which he hates, allow yourself to be persuaded by that which is evil, to refuse and insult the great and terrible God in the most marked manner possible, by treating lightly the Son of his love?

To-day hear the pleadings of infinite love, and harden not your heart. Whatever the cause of your excuses in the past, let that influence you no longer. Listen! from the depths of heaven do voices come; voices uniting in one simultaneous cry, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come." The church on earth re-echoes the invitation from above. "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely," Rev. xxii. 17.

Yet there is room. To-day is the day of salvation, but "boast not of to-morrow." Many, alas! very many, have done so, and to-morrow found them not upon the earth. Their spirits passed into an eternal world; the calls of God ceased for ever, and amidst the horrors of everlasting death they bewail their procrastination. warned by their most awful fate, and be wise to-day; 'tis all of time you can call your own.-A.

JERICHO.

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The neighbourhood of Jericho is called by Josephus," the most fruitful country of Judea, which bears a vast number of palm trees besides the balsam tree, whose sprouts they cut with sharp stones, and at the incisions they gather the juice, which drops down like tears.” The palm trees were given by Marc Anthony, in the extravagance of his love, to Cleopatra, the beautiful queen of Egypt. Jericho is called in Scripture "the city of palms," it was the first place taken from the Canaanites, by Joshua, on this side of the Jordan; and, at one period, it was inhabited by 12,000 priests, and was the second city of Judea. It had a royal palace, in which died Herod the Great. There was here a school of the prophets, and it was blessed by a visit from Christ, who healed here two blind men.

The associations of the plain, independent of its actual appearance, were among the most interesting that could be conceived. The waters to the south brought to the remembrance the visits of the angels to Abraham and Lot, and the burning of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The hills to the west included Nebo, Peor, and Pisgah, and it was impossible to look at them without thinking of the wanderings of the Israelites, the altars of Barak, the prophecies of Balaam, and the death of Moses. The river Jordan told of the dividing of its waters by Joshua, Elijah, and Elisha: the passage of the Israelites, the cure of Naaman, the baptism of Christ, and the preaching of John. Upon the near bank was Gilgal, where Joshua set up the twelve stones, the children of Israel were the second time circumcised, the manna ceased, and the people first ate of the old corn of the land. Here, too, the angel of the Lord, in the time of the judges, came up to speak unto the children of Israel, and they lifted up their voices and wept; and to this place Samuel came from year to year, that he might hold the annual assize of justice. In the plain, the patriarchs had pitched their tents; the battle of the four kings against five was fought, in which Lot was taken prisoner; David smote eighteen thousand men of the Syrians; Amaziah slew ten thousand men of Edom, and Zedekiah was taken prisoner by the princes of Babylon. Near the miserable village that presented itself, the walls of Jericho had fallen down at the noise of the voices of the people and the trumpets of the priests; there was a school of the prophets; Elijah and Elisha

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performed many miracles; Zaccheus entertained our Lord, and Bartimeus was restored to sight. It could not be far distant from us that Elisha was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, when he was anointed prophet by Elijah, at the command of God. Towards the north, were memorials of the cities of Gibeon, the siege of Gibeon, the siege of Ai, the sin and punishment of Achan, and the feeding of Elijah by_the_ravens, near the brook Cherith. To the mountains at the east it is supposed that Jesus was led up of the Spirit to be tempted of the devil, and that it was from the nearest summit that Satan showed him "all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them."-Hardy's | Notices of the Holy Land.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM CHINESE CUSTOMS AND LITERATURE. No. V.

THE BALANCE.

"Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!" Job vi. 2.

The progress of civilization is marked by the regard which the men of any country pay to their weights and measures. If the inhabitants are content with the uncertain mensuration of the eye, or the pressure which any body exerts upon the muscles of the arm, commerce and intelligence are at a low ebb with them. But if, on the contrary, we see them aiming at something like exactness in their dealings, and endeavouring to find a standard for their weights and measures, we may augur well concerning their prosperity.

An example of a low state of things as connected with a disregard of exactness and regularity in measuring out goods for sale, may be met with at Boutain, on the south side of the island of Celebes. A market is held every fifth day, near the shore of a far-withdrawing harbour, to which the natives repair in considerable numbers from the distant villages that range hard by the sea-side. But the balance or the steelyard are not seen among them, and the only apparatus for meting out the rice, is the tampurong, or cocoanut shell. And as this has never been adjusted by any scale or standard, different sellers adopt different measures, according to the generosity or avarice of their disposition. The buyer has, therefore, to consider three things: first, the