PROTESTANTISM IN FRANCE TO 1685. Part II. THE COURT OF PERSIA. BY JOHN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. BY CAP- THE NORTHERN WHALE FISHERY. ADDRESSES TO CHILDREN; with Introductory Suggestions to Ministers and Teachers. By SAMUEL G. GREEN, B.A., Minister of Silverstreet Chapel, Taunton. London: Benj. L. Green. A truly valuable little book, containing nine beautifully simple and By CAPTAIN SCORESBY. ciety. Four valuable and interesting additions to the Monthly Series of the Religious Tract Society, and which will be read with interest by many. The two last are particularly interesting, and contain much curious information, with many narratives of striking incidents and adventures in the northern seas. A BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY, designed as an Illustrative Commentary on the Sacred Scriptures. With numerous wood engravings. Fourth Edition, greatly enlarged. By SAMUEL GREEN. London: Benj. L. Green. 1849. We have already noticed this admirable work in its parts, and now that it is completed, desire again to bring it before the notice of our readers as by far the most convenient Bible Dictionary published for the use of sabbath school teachers. children. Just the book we want for teachers, who have not the right gifts or the right style for addressing children, to read at the “separate service." A fine specimen of the kind of address fitted to be both popular and useful with little folks, and a book that may be read with equal profit by the teacher and the child, the first for imitation and the last for instruction. It forms the first of a series of works to be adapted to the present wants and position of our Sabbath schools, by various ministers and others of known experience in this department of Christian labour, to be entitled, "THE SUNDAY SCHOOL LIBRARY." If the others are equally well adapted to the ends they profess to seek, the series will be very valuable indeed, and we cordially thank the enterprising publisher for projecting it, while we trust he will have that response his efforts so well deserve. Chapter of Varieties. NEVER BE IDLE. A man who is able to employ himself innocently is never miserable. It is the idle who are wretched. If I wanted to inflict the greatest punishment on a fellow-creature, I would shut him alone in a dark room without employment. KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge is not a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state for a proud mind to raise itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground for strife and contention; or a shop for profit or sale; but a rich store-house for the glory of the Creator, and the relief of man's estate.-Lord Bacon. A SIGN OF WEAKNESS. A person pointed out a man who had a profusion of rings on his fingers to a cooper. "Ah, master," said the artizan, "it is a sure sign of weakness when so many hoops are used." THE HEROIC NEGRO. One day the captain of a Dutch vessel went out of his own ship to dine on board another; while he was there a storm arose, which in a short time made an entire wreck of his own ship, to which it was impossible for him to return. He had left on board two little boys, one four, the other five, years old, under the care of a poor black servant. The people struggled to get out of the sinking ship into a large boat, and the poor black took the two little children, tied them in a bag, put in a little pot of sweetmeats for them, and put them into the boat; the boat by this time was quite full: the black was stepping into it himself, but was told by the master, there was no room for him, that either he or the children must perish, for the weight of both would sink the boat. The exalted, heroic negro did not hesitate a moment. "Very well," said he, "give my duty to my master, and tell him I beg pardon for all my faults;" and then plunged to the bottom, never to rise again till the sea shall give up her dead. When Lord Monboddo heard of this, he burst into tears, and no wonder, the story is so touching. I think it not unlikely that some of my readers will weep while they peruse it here. But oh, how is it that we can hear and read, without similar emotion, the record of the gospel still more wonderful, that Jesus Christ gave himself up the death for us all-Jesus Christ, a person infinitely superior!-to the death of the cross-a death far more terrible for us-" ungodly"-" sinners"-"enemies!"-Brown's Lambs of the Flock. to PATRICK HENRY'S LEGACY. The following is the closing paragraph of the will of Patrick Henry: "I have now disposed of all my property to my family; there is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is, the CHRISTIAN RELIGION. If they had this, and I had not given them one shilling, they would be rich; and if they had not that, and I had given them all the world, they would be poor." THREE WONDERS IN HEAVEN. "If ever I reach heaven, I expect to find three wonders there. First, to meet some whom I never thought to see there; secondly, to miss some whom I expected to meet there; and, thirdly, the greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there."-Dr. Watts. THE ORYX, OR UNICORN. "His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of the unicorn."-Deut. xxxiii. 17. A GREAT variety of opinions have been started as to the particular animal referred to in the Bible under the name of UNICORN, and interesting research, and learned discussions, have been entered on to decide the matter. now chiefly figured in All are agreed that the animal heraldic paintings, and which our young readers will doubtless have taken generally as their type of the unicorn-a sort of horse with a horn projecting from the forehead, is an entirely fabulous creature, having never had an existence but in the fancy of poets, or imaginations of artists, and that it is not at all to be regarded as that referred to in the Bible. But while all are thus BIBLE CLASS MAGAZINE.] [AUGUST, 1849. I agreed here, they are far from agreement as to the real animal referred to. By some the RHINOCEROS is considered the proper unicorn of Scripture. It is the only known animal that has any claim to be considered "one-horned," i.e., if the horny projection on the fore part of the head can be considered a horn, and applicable in any way to the descriptions of the Bible. It is also of very "great strength," probably the strongest animal known, for its size; and so bulky, that it took eight men to lift a head of one of the African species into a cart. It has never yet been tamed so as to assist the labours of man; and, though not ferocious, is brutal and insensible. These are the chief features for fixing upon this animal as the Bible unicorn, and as answering to the description given in the book of Job, (see ch. xxxix. 9-12). To this view, however, very strong objections have been made. 1. The original name, reem, has nothing in it necessarily involving the idea of "one-horned." It comes from a root signifying "exalted," or "raised on high;" but has nothing about it to indicate the character of one-horned. Indeed, some of the passages indicate rather its possession of two horns; that, for instance, which we have selected as our motto, from Deut. xxxiii. 17, "His horns are like the horns of the reem," and where the singular should be employed, and not the plural, as in our version. 2. The fact that the rhinoceros was not a native of the countries about either Judea or Arabia: one species belonging to the marshy jungles of the Ganges, and two others to the southern parts of Africa; but none to the countries in which the writers of the Bible lived. 3. The horn of the rhinoceros is not particularly exalted, and this idea seems necessary to be carried out in whatever animal is fixed upon. The common African rhinoceros has a crooked horn resembling a cock's spur, which rises only about nine or ten inches above the nose, and inclines backward, while the head is supported in almost a straight line with the ridge of the back, and not much elevated. The only exception to this is in the case of a rare species discovered in South Africa, by John Campbell, the horn of which was three feet long, but of which only one specimen has, as yet, been seen. 4. In Isaiah xxxiv. 7, the " reem " is mentioned in connection with cattle; and in Job, the allusions to it seem to be such as to involve the idea of an animal of somewhat similar character to those employed in the farm, or used in husbandry, and to which nothing could be much more unlike than the rhinoceros. These and other considerations have made commentators look elsewhere for the Scripture unicorn, and some of our best writers are disposed to fix upon the oryx, or wild goat, a cut of which is given with this paper. This animal inhabits the solitudes of Africa on the confines of Egypt, and indeed is spoken of as an Egyptian animal, from which it would be well known to Moses and other writers of the Old Testament Scriptures. It is distinguished by carrying its head and long straight horns very high, which would answer well to the name of Reem," and also to the allusions in the Psalms. It is of the goat tribe, and has hitherto been found quite untameable, and so far answers to the allusions in Job, Isaiah, and other places. It is exceedingly swift of foot, jealous of its safety, and given to push with its horns, and in contest is exceedingly fierce and formidable. "When he sees a wild boar or lion preparing to attack him, he immediately lowers his head, inclines it on one side, and watching his opportunity rushes on his adversary, whom he usually pierces and overcomes." 66 These descriptions are taken chiefly from Bochart, one of the best writers on Scripture zoology; and, if to be depended on, would go far to establish the claim of the oryx to be the Bible reem. The principal places in Scripture in which the animal is named, are Numbers xxiii. 22, xxiv. 8; Deut. xxxiii. 17; Job xxxix. 9—12; Psa. xxii. 21, xxix. 6, xcii. 10; and Isa. xxxiv. 7. Our readers may refer to the places, and then judge for themselves as to the merits of the two claimants to the title. QUESTIONS BY BIBLE SCHOLARS, ANSWERED BY REV. DR. HEWLETT. Query.-Can John i. 18 be reconciled with John xiv. 9? "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."—John i. 18. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou, Show us the Father?"-John xiv. 9. THESE passages of sacred writ are rather confirmatory of each other than contradictory. The one in John i. 18 is the |