Are we among those, in whose to an earnest desire, by the assistheart the good seed is choked by the ance of God, to reform and to pleasures and the cares of life-change it. Here is another stage of growth, and another enemy to contend with. Men wish to serve God; but they wish to serve the world also. But, says our Lord, and truly does he say it, Ye cannot serve both God and Mammon. For a time indeed the plants may grow up and flourish together; but soon the thorns and the thistles will overpower the tenderer growth of the heavenly plant. The thorns and thistles-the pleasures and cares of this world are active, present, and pressing in their progress. The seeds of these are sown in our youth; they are encouraged just at the season when they should be checked, and then we wonder that they grow and strengthen in rank luxuriance, to the exclusion of every other, every better plant. Early, therefore, let the mind be cleared of these noxious weeds; for thorns and thistles they are in another sense, they are hostile to the hand that would remove them. Those, in whose souls the riches, the cares, and the pleasures of life have taken a deep and a dangerous root, are ever most fretful, irritable and forbidding, when their growth is observed or remarked. They are conscious of the wild and weedy state of their hearts; but either from selfishness or indolence, they hate the eye that would observe it, and the hand that would reform it. Most true it is, that the operation of rooting out in later life, these thorns and thistles from the mind, can be no very pleasant one. But pleasant or not, it must be done, and quickly done; otherwise the harvest of immortality will fail. Happy will it be for those, in whom these cares, these riches, or these pleasures of the world have taken so deep a root, as to stifle the Word of God, if by such a parable as this, they are brought to some serious reflections upon their own real condition, and Are we among those who in an honest and good heart, having heard the word of God, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience? Here we cannot but observe another striking similitude between the parable and our own condition, We are not to expect, that in one night, the good seed shall spring up and come to its harvest. He that would bear good fruit, must wait with patience for the time of its perfection. He must go on, day by day, and year by year, increasing in every Christian grace and virtue; watching with constant care, and watering with God's hea venly grace his goodly plant: he must guard it from a thousand enemies who would scatter thorns and thistles in his ground. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth on his way weeping, and bringeth forth good fruit, shall surely come again with joy, and bring his sheaves with him. In all these four cases, which the parable presents to our view, the heart is the source of the good or the evil. The seed is the word of God, and that we know endureth the same for ever; but if the soil be hard, as in the first, if it be shallow and dry, as in the second, if it be weedy and foul as in the third, no fruit can come to perfection. Let us keep our heart then with all diligence; for therein are the issues of good and evil. May the Almighty grant that this parable may so teach us the mysteries of the kingdom of God on the one hand, and the mysteries of our hearts on the other, that seeing and knowing the various dangers which attend the heavenly plant in this precarious world, we may, by the assistance of Christ, so guard and protect it, that it may hereafter bring forth a rich harvest unto life and glory. T. R. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. (Continued.) Illustrations from Natural History. near them were placed two basons LIONS. Judges xiv. 5. "Then went Samson down and his father and his mother to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timpath, and behold a young lion roared against him,” Jeremiah 1. 44. "Behold he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong." THE part of Arabia joining upon The lake Macon, which we left on our left hand, is occasioned by the abundance of waters that flow down from Mount Libanus, about the beginning of the spring, when the warm west-wind thaws it; and yet this same mountain in the summer time is scorched up by the sun. Because of the overflowing of the waters, there grow here abundance of reeds; trees, thorns, &c. that make an echoing wood, where the bears, lions, and other beasts of prey, find both food and shelter; and here they say the king uses to hunt. At these waters it is, according to Joshua, xi. 1. that Jabin king of Hasor, with many of his confederate princes, met, where Joshua attacked and the Lord delivered them into his hand.-Travels of Martin Baumgarten, Churchill's Coll. Vol. i. p. 475. Bell, in his account of Persia, makes frequent mention of lions. At the Court of Ispahan, when ap. proaching to the hall of audience, he saw two chained to the ground, one on each side of the passage; of gold, filled with water for drink. Next to the lions stood an elephant with a keeper on his back. As the ambassador passed, both the lion's couched, and the elephant,bent his fore knee at a word pronounced by the keepers.-Bell's Travels, Vol. I, p. 100. Both sides of the Jordan are bordered by a forest of tufted trees, which grow so closely in some parts, that they are impenetrable to the rays of the sun. This forest, like that in the neighbourhood of Lake Samochon, is the retreat of tigers, which sometimes carry desolation to the surrounding country. I was told that there were a great many lions here; but I am convinced that this is a mistake. It is true that they abounded here in the time of Jeremiah, but there is every reason to suppose that they have since retired to some places more commodious for them.-Mariti's Travels, Vol, ii, p. 365. 66 Again, (Vol. iii. p. 117,) Mariti adds upon this subject. Near the desert of Tekoa lay that of Bethlehem, which was an immense wil derness, abounding with wild beasts. "The desert of Bethlehem," says Adricomius, was a vast wilderness, frequented by lions, bears, and other wild beasts." I have already remarked, that no lions are to be met with at present in Palestine. They must therefore have been driven from that country, since St. Jerome and other writers give us clearly to understand that they were formerly found there in great plenty. "At four this morning we parted from the bank which was on the Chaldæan side, the people being afraid of stopping on the Mesopotamian side, on account of tigers and lions, which many people in this vessel declared to have seen often, and related several fatal accidents which had happened to persons who had remained on shore after it was dark, or moored their vessels to the banks at night. I did not wonder to hear of tigers, as they are common in Asia; but as I never until now had heard of their having lions, I seemed surprized, which the Turks observing, many of the most credible declared they had frequently seen them come down to the banks of the river, and as they described a lion accurately, I have no doubt of the truth, They relate that they are more frequent on the banks of the Tigris than on this river; and that they are only in Mesopotamia, as they have never been seen on the Persian side of the Tigris, nor on the Chaldæan side of the Euphrates."-Parsons' Travels in Asia and Africa. Mr. Parsons is probably wrong respecting the tiger, as the royal or large tiger is rarely met with in any other part than the plains of Hindostan. The small hunting tiger and leopard may have occasioned the mistake. The statement here given of the lion is confirmed by Tournefort and Mr. Bell, who at the same time acknowledge that it is seldom to be met with west of the Euphrates; their accounts, how ever, all tend to prove its existence in the neighbourhood, if not actually in Palestine, and the objection therefore to its present non existence is in a manner set aside, We have frequent instances of the scarcity of many animals in countries where once they were known to be numerous. The stork and the wolf are now no longer to be met with in England, though formerly abundant. The same diligence exerted in the destruction of the former in our own country, may have had a similar effect in a country once so populous as Canaan. In proof of this, it is to be observed that it is only in the early periods of the Old Testament that we hear of them as patives of the soil, In the New Tes Lucian describes a charmer of serpents, on the authority of a person named Iom,-who says, early. one morning I saw a Chaldæan walk thrice round a certain place, and after purifying it with torches and sulphur, prouounce seven holy words out of an ancient book, which immediately drove out all the serpents that were within that circle: drawn by his incantation, there came about him innumerable asps, vipers, and snakes of all descriptions. One old serpent, indeed, staid behind; the magician however sent the youngest serpent after him, and when he had gathered them all together, the Bas bylonian blew upon them, and they were all consumed. Conjurors are common in Egypt, They are peasants from the country, who come to Cairo to earn money this way, I saw one who was expert enough, and in dexterity equalled those we have in Europe; but the Egyptians can do one thing the Europeans are not able to imitatenamely, fascinate serpents. take the most poisonous vipers with their bare hands, play with them, put them in their bosoms, and use a great many more tricks with them, They as I have often seen. The person I saw on the above day had only a small viper; but I have frequently seen them handle those that were three or four feet long, and of the most horrid sort. I enquired and examined whether they had cut out the viper's poisonons teeth; but I have with my own eyes seen they do not; we may therefore conclude that there are 'to this day Psylli in Egypt; but what are their use is not easily known. Some people are very superstitious, and the generality believe this to be done by some supernatural art, which they obtain from invisible beings. I do not know whether their power is to be ascribed to good or evil, but I am persuaded that those who undertake it use many superstitions. July 3. Now was the time to catch all sorts of snakes to be met with in Egypt, the great heats bring ing forth these vermin-I therefore made preparation to get as many as I could, and at once received four different sorts, which I have described and preserved in aqua vitæ. These were the common viper, the Cerastes of Alpin, Jaculus and an Anguis Marinus. They were brought me by a Psylli, who put me, together with the French Consul Lironcourt and all the French nation present in consternation: They gathered about us to see how she han, dled the most poisonous and dreadful creatures, alive and brisk, with out their doing, or even offering to do her the least harm. When she put them into the bottle, where they were to be preserved, she took them with her bare hands, and handied them as our ladies do their laces. She had no difficulty with any but the Vipera Officinales, which were not fond of their lodging. They found means to creep out before the bottle could be corked. They crept over the hands and bare arms of the woman, without occasioning the least fear in her. She with great calmness took the snakes from her 1 body, and put them into the place destined for their grave. She had taken these serpents in the field, with the same ease she handled them before us. Doubtless, this woman had some unknown art which enabled her to handle those creatures. It was impossible to get any information from her, for on this subject she would not open her lips. The art of fascinating serpents is a secret amongst the Egyptians. It is worthy the endeavours of all naturalists, and the attention of every traveller, to learn something decisive relative to this affair. How ancient this art is among the Africans may be concluded from the ancient Marii and Psylli, who were from Africa, and daily shewed proofs of it at Rome. It is very remarkable that this should be kept a secret for more than 2000 years, being known only to a few, when we have seen how many other secrets have within that time been revealed. The circumstances relating to the fascination of serpents, related to me, were principally, 1. That the art is only known to certain families, who propagate it to their offspring. 2. The person who knows how to fascinate serpents, never meddles with other poisonous animals, such as scorpions, lizards, &c. There are different persons who know how to fascinate these animals, and they again never meddle with serpents. 3. Those that fascinate serpents, eat them both raw and boiled, and even make broth of them, (this indeed is common enough in Europe, viper broth being considered as a remedy for consumptive diseases) which they eat very commonly amongst them, but in particular they eat such a dish when they go out to catch them. 4. After they have eat their soup, they procure a blessing from their scheik (priest or lawyer) who uses. some superstitious ceremonies, and amongst others, spits on them several times with certain gestures. This manner of getting a blessing from the priest is pure superstition, and certainly cannot in the least help to fascinate serpents;-but they believe, or will at least persuade others, that the power of fascinating serpents depends upon this circumstance. We see by this that they know how to make use of the same means used by other nations, namely, to hide under the cloak of superstition, what may be easily and naturally explained, especially when they cannot or will not explain the natural reason. I have been told of a plant with which they anoint or rub themselves before they touch the serpents. Note, Mr. Jacquin, in a letter to Sir Charles Linnæus, says, that the Indians in the West Indies charm serpents with the Aristolochia Anguiceda, and the late Mr. Forshohl, on his Travels to the East, likewise informed Dr. Lin næus, that the Egyptians use a species of Aristolochia (Berthwort), but does not determine which species it is.-Hasselquist's Travels, p. 60 63. In Japan, there are also charmers of serpents, similar to the above. Being so long resident at Grand Cairo as to have had frequent opportunities of observing these people who possess the secret of fascinat ing serpents; I have often met them in the street, hung all around with serpents, some wrapped around their necks, others in their bosom, and all of them alive, which at first appeared not a little alarming. When Mr. Bruce was at Cairo, he wished likewise to see it. He lodged with a French merchant, Mr. Rose, a friend of mine, who sent for one of these people to exhibit before us. When he entered the house, he was asked where he had his serpents? he put his hand in his bosom, and brought out a large horned viper, (the Coluber Cerastes) and threw it on the ground; the animal, rather enraged at such rough treatment, made towards Mr. Rose; fearful that it might bite him, the man ran after and got hold of it in the middle with his naked hand, when it turned round and bit him between the forefinger and thumb, so that the blood appeared. He seemed not to mind it at all, and only rubbed it with a little common earth: nor was it followed by any bad consequences. Had he really taken out the fangs and the bladder containing the poison, the animals which were bit by the same viper immediately afterwards would not have died so suddenly. Several fowls and a cat were afterwards bitten by it, and died immediately. I have seen several little boys that could do the same. When Baron Tott was at Cairo, some of the Europeans residing there, speaking of it, made him very curious to see it. A little boy happened just then to be passing along the street, who often used to come a begging, and, as we knew he was one of that class, we offered him some paras, if he would get some scorpions, and shew us what he could do. The boy, who had not one rag of clothes about him, except a little red cap on his head, went immediately to some old garden walls, and came back in a short time empty handed. We asked him where he had his scorpions? He took off his little cap, under which he had five very large ones, which he threw upon the ground, and began to play with them before us; they frequently stung him, but he seemed not to mind it at all. I myself grew very suspicious that he might have taken away their sting, and therefore stooped to examine them very closely; but he warned me not to come too near, and to convince me of the contrary, he took some of them up with his fingers, and shewed me the sting. I then asked him how he came to it, to be able to do what some of his companions could not not do? He answered, my father gave me something to drink, and the sheik or priest made me swallow |