river "brought forth frogs upon their land and in the chambers of their kings." (Ps. cv. 30.) By those plagues were represented the evils that come upon those who are wholly natural; and one of them is the swarming of such falsities as frogs represent.

John saw "out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs." (Rev. xvi. 13.) The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet are they who teach the doctrine of faith alone. These talk merely naturally, denying spiritual truth; not, indeed, the particulars mentioned above, but these, - that our Lord is God with us; that heavenly life is to live from His good Love; that He conquered the hells, and now holds them subdued for those and in those who hate evil, and look to Him to save them. These essential truths they deny, and reason discontentedly against them, from their love of being let alone in their natural pleasures.

APES.

MIMICRY is the familiar characteristic of monkeys and apes, even to the great gorillas, of whom it is said that "they watch the actions of men, and imitate them as nearly as possible. Like the ivory hunters, they pick up the fallen tusks of elephants, but not knowing where to deposit them, they carry their burdens about until they themselves drop, and even die from fatigue." Their very forms are burlesque imitations of human forms.

'Monkey tricks" and mimicry are well-known human attributes, and the love of these is the monkey in us.

In regard to spiritual things, there is a deeper kind of monkey character. Man becomes truly man, in the image and likeness of God, by learning from God, and living what he learns. But

▲ Nat. Hist.

man is an ape, and no man, when he assumes the forms and the words of Christian worship in prayer and preaching and profession, but does not know the Lord in his heart nor love Him nor live from Him; in which case he is only a grotesque, perverse counterfeit of a man.1

The apes which Solomon imported, with gold and silver, ivory and peacocks, were representatives of externals of worship, or of humanity, which with the Israelites were without internals.2

SERPENTS.

HE first characteristic of serpents is that their

THE

whole body is foot. It lies upon the ground,

and is their instrument of progression.

They throw themselves rapidly forward by coils of their body; but they have also a remarkable power of gliding along without coils, and without any other perceptible means of locomotion.

This movement is dependent on "the mobility of the ribs, which are pushed forward in succession, and drawn back again, so as to catch against any inequality of the ground. This power is increased by the structure of the scales. Those of the upper part of the body, which are not used for locomotion, are shaped something like the scales of a fish; but those of the lower part of the body, which come in contact with the ground, are broad belts, each overlapping the other, and each connected with one pair of ribs. When, therefore, the serpent pushes forward the ribs, the edges of the scaly belts will catch

against the slightest projection, and are able to give a very powerful impetus to the body. It is scarcely possible to drag a snake backwards over rough ground; while on a smooth surface, such as glass, the serpent would be totally unable to proceed." 1

This gliding motion is as if the animal were intent with his whole mind upon keeping out of sight, and attaining his ends without suspicion. It is both offensive and defensive. By means of it he creeps unheard and unsuspected close to the insects, reptiles, or other small creatures which are his food, and seizes his prey by a sudden dart of his tongue or head. And, on the other hand, when surprised by an intruder whom he fears, he glides away so noiselessly and with so little appearance of movement, that an unpractised eye will remain fixed upon the neighboring grass or sticks, and will only know that the snake is gone.

Describing the manner of handling venomous snakes practised by Mr. Waterton, Mr. Wood says:

1 Bible Animals.