that can be produced from the stores of Grecian, Indian, Persian, or even Arabian learning. The antiquity of these compositions no man doubts; and the unrestrained application of them to events long subsequent to their publication, is a solid ground of belief that they were genuine predictions, and consequently inspired.— Sir William Jones.

THE CHILD AND THE LAMB.

dren, "Come unto me." Mary had closed her eyes in prayer, and when she opened them she espied a lamb. It was seeking the tenderest herbs among the tall grass, and had strayed away from its mother and the flock, so that Mary saw at a glance she had a companion in her solitude, and her heart was gladdened.

The lamb was happy also. It played at her side, and took the little tufts of grass from her hand as readily as if she had been its friend from infancy. Now the little thing would sport by her side, and then rush forward as if about to forsake her altogether. And so she followed it, without any anxiety as to whither it would lead her. She was lost-she had no friend to help her in her distress-the lamb had found her in loneliness, and she loved it and loved to follow it. So she went on. The sun was setting -a summer sun, and her shadow stretched away before her as if she were some tall tree. She was thinking of home, and wondering if she would ever reach it, when the lamb of a sudden sprang away over a gentle knoll, and as she reached it she saw her sportive playmate had found the flock from which it had strayed; but, what was more, she saw before her her own pleasant home. The lamb had led Mary home.

A LITTLE child wandered from its
mother's cottage on the prairie, in
search of flowers. Pleased with the
pursuit, and absorbed in new plea-
sures, it was nearly night before she
thought of returning; and then she
attempted in vain to retrace her
steps, and was lost in the pathless
meadows. She sat down and wept.
She looked in all directions, in hope
of seeing some one to lead her home-
ward, but no one appeared. She
strained her eyes, now dim with
tears, to catch sight of the smoke
curling from the cot she had left,
but in vain. She was alone in the
wilderness, and hours had passed
since she had left her home. A few
hours more, and the dark night
would be around her, the stars look
down upon her, and her locks be wet
with the dew. She knelt on the
ground and prayed. Her parents in
the cottage were beyond the reach
of her voice; but her heavenly Fa-
ther, she knew, was always near,
and could hear her feeblest cry.
Mary had been taught to say, "Our
Father," and in this time of sorrow,
when friends were far away, and
there was none to help, she called
upon Him who has said to little chil--American.

Reader, thou art lost, wandering afar from home. Thy Father longs for thy return. Jesus, the Lamb, will lead thee back if thou wilt let him. Oh, follow that lamb, and he will bring thee to thy Father's house, thy heaven, and thy home for ever!

SYRIAN SHEEP AND GOAT.

THE frequent mention of various animals in Scripture invest them with peculiar interest, and make them the objects of special inquiry and observation. Perhaps none have been so invested and so observed like the sheep and goat. The chosen subjects of sacrifice, the selected emblems of Jesus, they at once strike us as deserving of unusual notice; and careful inquiries might help us to elicit their suitability for the peculiar offices they seem to fill, and the many emblems they are made to furnish.

Our own breeds of sheep would also furnish a number of particulars from which we might show their fitness for the prominent position they are made to occupy in sacred writ.

Their gentleness," as gentle as a lamb," being a proverb amongst us; their submission; their apparent innocence; their BIBLE CLASS MAGAZINE.] [JUNE, 1849.

G

patient endurance of suffering; their affectionate disposition; and their extraordinary usefulness to man,-all combine in fitting them as due emblems of Christ, the true Lamb of God, and of rendering their selection by Jehovah, as his most common sacrifice, a matter of apparent propriety and excellence.

All this we could learn from our own native breeds; but in Palestine these allusions had even greater force: and many scripture figures can only be fully understood as the disposition and manners of the Syrian sheep are rightly apprehended.

Our cut represents one of these interesting animals. It is the common Syrian sheep. There is another breed in the country, called the "Bedouin," and which differs very little in appearance from our larger breeds, except that the tail is somewhat longer and thicker. The one presented above is more common, and probably of the same kind as was anciently used in sacrifice. Their colour is generally not unlike ours, but there are also some of a yellowish red, others of dingy black or brown, and others speckled. Their grand distinguishing features from ours are, their long pendent ears, their more hair-like coat, and their large and heavy tail. This tail is considered by easterns a great delicacy, and, in large and well-fattened animals, has been known to weigh as much as fifty pounds; while, in all cases, it generally weighs about one-third of the entire carcase. It is of a substance between fat and marrow, and is not eaten separately, but mixed with the lean meat in many of their dishes, and often used instead of butter. You will find a reference to this part in Exod. xxix. 22—25, and Lev. iii. 9, where the tail, "and the fat thereof," are specially directed to be burned in sacrifice, while in Lev. iii. 17 there is a distinct prohibition requiring the Jews not to eat it. Some have thought that this prohibition had reference to the health of the Jews, as this part is considered most unwholesome, and it might be so; but it seems to us rather to be designed to lead them to feel the importance of dedicating to God whatever they would have esteemed the choicest and the best.

It was and is still the custom in Syria to keep large flocks of these sheep; and many are the allusions to their pastures, their privileges, the care of their shepherds, their obedience to their wishes, and the affection which existed between them: our Redeemer alludes to these things where he draws the parallel between an eastern flock of sheep, watched over by a kind

and tender shepherd, and the band of his true disciples, watched over by himself. The spouse in the Canticles, too, speaks of the church of God as a flock, and prays to be permitted to feed upon the shepherd's choicest pastures; while David sweetly sings, in the twenty-third Psalm, of the guardian care of Jehovah for his soul, as pictured out by that of a Syrian shepherd. Sometimes the whole nation of Israel is called "a flock," and God is not unfrequently addressed as their tender shepherd.

Large flocks of sheep were kept on purpose for sacrifice, and a place called "the sheep-market," near the temple, was set apart for their sale to those who came with offerings to its altar. It has been thought by some that it was to the shepherds of these consecrated flocks that the angels first announced the birth of Jesus, pointing them from the lambs of their charge to the Lamb of God.

GOATS are often mentioned in connexion with sheep, from which some have thought a similarity of appearance, if not of character, might be traced. In this country the difference in appearance is very marked; but in Syria there is a species of goat, and that the most common, which, in its long pendulous ears, and other particulars, is not unlike the Syrian sheep just described. It is, however, a much finer and more noble-looking animal, and when properly taken care of is covered with beautiful long and silken hair of a dark brown or black. This hair was woven into various fabrics; the finer worn by the people, and the coarser used for the coverings of their tents. One of the coverings of the tabernacle was of goat's hair.

In the sacrifices at the temple and tabernacle, goats are often named, and on the great day of atonement one was even selected to bear away the people's sins into the wilderness. The combination on this day of two animals as the one sin-offering was beautifully significant of Christ: on the one hand, all patience and gentleness to suffer; on the other, all vigorous and mighty, to carry out triumphantly the results and issues of those sufferings: here dying, but there rising victorious, and bearing away his people's sins.

As an emblematic animal, it is often used to signify a prince and leader, as we see in Zech. x. 3, and Jer. 1. 8. In the twentyfifth chapter of Matthew, it expresses the character of the unconverted, who, however like the sheep in outward appearance, have inwardly the proud, bold, unsubdued spirit and bearing of the

goat. Now they may feed in one pasture, appear like one flock, and be even more admired for their noble bearing and lovely glossy skin; but, "when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, he shall separate them the one from the other, and he shall put the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left."

Dear reader, seek you to be moulded into all the gentleness, innocence, and love, the first of these would emblemize; that, in that great day, you may form one of that large flock, that shall go in with Christ to pasture on the heavenly hills.

QUESTIONS BY BIBLE SCHOLARS

ANSWERED BY REV. DR. HEWLETT.

Query.-Can Acts ix. 7 be reconciled with Acts xxii. 9 ? "And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.' -Acts ix. 7.

"And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.”—Acts xxii. 9. THE Conversion of the persecuting Saul of Tarsus is one of the most remarkable triumphs of the gospel, and a most striking proof of its divine authority and power. The apostle on different occasions seemed compelled, by the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed, to refer to the extraordinary change which had been produced on him, and the phenomena with which that change was accompanied.

In the two passages now under consideration the apostle enters into all the minutia in detailing the fact of his conversion, and all the palpable agents employed in its accomplishment. And though on a first glance at these passages there may appear a great discrepancy, yet upon a closer examination it will be evident that there is no contradiction, but that the one is perfectly consistent with the other.

In Acts ix. 7, the apostle is accounting for the silence and amazement of the men who were with him, because of their "hearing a voice, but seeing no man." And hence it may be paraphrased, "hearing the sound of the voice addressed to Saul, without comprehending its meaning, but seeing no man.'

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In Acts xxii. 9, the apostle is pointing out the different effects the same phenomena produced on himself and on his companions. He heard not only the sound, but distinctly the words of the voice. He heard these words as the words of Christ; that is, he had a spiritual perception of their source and import. They who were with him heard the sound, but heard not distinctly the words of the voice. They had no apprehension of the solemn meaning of the sound, nor any idea of its divine origin; like those Christ