tinctly in a dream, has been set up openly in the sight of believers in Jesus Christ, and enables them to reach unto heaven. All the families of the earth have been blessed in the seed of Jacob, and the faithful come again to their fathers' house in peace. Labour and pain they are destined to undergo, but throughout the whole of their probation God is with them and strengthens them; the intercession of the Redeemer is continually vouchsafed to them, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies and renews their souls. By these means they are enabled to set up an altar in their hearts to the God that has answered them in the day of their distress, and been with them in the way which they went; an altar not made like that of Jacob, with clay and stones, but with purity, holiness, and faith. And when their appointed days are numbered, they are authorised to exclaim with Job, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. God Almighty has appeared unto us, reconciling the world to himself. He hath given us better promises than any temporal kingdom, and the believer appeals to them even upon the bed of death. As Jacob and Joseph were confident that their children would not be left in Egypt, so are we confident that our souls will not be left in the grave. God will surely visit the whole race of Adam; and bring out the pious, the faithful, and the contrite into a happy and everlasting abode. The days which are then to come will neither be few nor evil. Violence, says the prophet, shall no more be heard in thy land; but thou shalt call thy walls, Salvation, and thy gates, Praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. M. C. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATIONS. Illustrations from Natural History. was given on account of its preva DOVE'S DUNG. 2 Kings vi. 26. "And there was a great famine in Samaria; and, behold, they besieged it; and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung was sold for five pieces of silver." THE study of Botany has afforded many illustrations of Holy Writ, amongst others of the above pas sage. What this article might be, had long puzzled the commentators, when the Father of Botany suggested that it was probably the root of Ornithogalum or Bethlehem Star, which affords to this day a pleasant and nutritious aliment to the lower orders in Judea. Its English name lence in Palestine, and its ancient one literally signifies birds' milk. When to this we add that its blossoms, of a greenish-white, resemble at a little distance the dung of birds, the conjecture of Linuæus becomes still more probable, and a curious elucidation appears to be afforded of an obscure passage of Scripture. New Monthly Mag. No. X, p. 368. DUNG OF PIGEONS. The dung of pigeons is the dearest manure that the Persians use; and as they apply it almost entirely for the rearing of melons, it is probably, on that account, that the melons of Ispahan are so much finer than those of other cities. The revenue of a pigeon-house is about 100 tomauns per ann., and the great value of this dung, which rears a fruit that is indispensable to the existence of the natives, during the great heats of summer, will probably throw some light upon the above passage in Scripture, relating to the famine in Samaria. Morier's Persia, p. 141. SPIKENARD. Matt. xxvi. 7. "There came unto him a woman, having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he sat at meat." The Oil of Behen, Balsamum Aaronis; Rhamnus Spina Christi, the Egyptian Buckthorn; Enoplia Spinosao Caspar Bauhin, 477. Ma bea Paliurus Athenæi, Alpin Egypt, 16. 19. The oil of Behen, which 16. 19. The oil of Behen, which emits no scent or smell at all, is very proper for preparing odoriferous ointments and balsams. On this account it is much used by the inhabitants of the East, who lay flowers of Jessamine, Narcissus, &c. in this oil, and thus make an odoriferous ointment, which those who love perfumes apply to the head, Hasselquist's nose, and beard. Travels, p. 288. Among other interesting articles in the Flora Nepalensis, a full and correct botanical description of the plant which yielded the spikenard of the ancients, may be expected, This plant is the Valeriana Iata mansi. It is remarkable that although Sir W. Jones was the first who determined this point, he has by mistake described and figured another species of Valerian, in place of the Iatamansi, viz. Val. Hardwickii; or at least he has confounded this species with the true one, for he describes the radical leaves as being cordate, while the leaves of Val. Iatamansi are lanceolate. In Mr. Lambert's rich collection are specimens of the Iatamansi with fibrous roots; these agree exactly with what was formerly sold in the shops, and answer well the description given by ancient authors as to the root resembling the tail of an ermine.-New Monthly Mag. No. X. p. 504. LILIES OF THE FIELD. Matt. vi. 28, 29. "And why take ye thought for raiment ? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; "And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Our Saviour's words acquire adwhen we remember that they were ditional force and peculiar beauty, suggested by the sight of the splenlily which abounds in Palestine. did Amaryllis Lutea, a species of lily which abounds in Palestine. Who does not feel their emphasis, when he imagines our blessed Lord standing on the Mount, from whence his divine sermon was delivered, wondering throng, whom he is urgsurrounded by au attentive and ing to lay aside unnecessary cares, and trust in the bounty of their heavenly Father; and then see him pointing towards those glorious lilies which decked the surround ing plain, and deducing from their beauty, exceeding the pomp of king's attire, lessons of simplicity in dress, freedom from vain or excessive cares, and dependence on Almighty protection.-New Monthly Mag. No. X. WHALES. p. 368. MAMMALIA CLASS. Lamentations iv. 3. "Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones." This affords a curious proof of the accuracy of the sacred writers. The original word, Taanim, meaning Whales, and the Cetæ in general; which order of animals, it is necessary to inform such of our readers as are not conversant with natural history, is of the class Mammalia, or that which suckles its young. SWINE UNCLEAN. Leviticus xi. 7. "The swine is unclean to you." Molpadia (called Hemithea) was in great honour and esteem among all the Chersonesians. In the celebration of her mysteries, they offer drink offerings of water and honey mixed together, and he that has touched a swine, or eaten of swine's flesh, is not permitted to enter her temple. Diod. Sic. B. v. c. 3. The Egyptians regard the hog as an unclean animal, and if they casually touch one, they immediately plunge themselves, clothes and all, into water. This prejudice operates to the exclusion of all swineherds, although natives of Egypt, from the temples; with people of this descripiton a connection by marriage is studiously avoided, and they are reduced to the necessity of intermarriage among those of their own profession. Herod. Euterpe. c. 47. (Note to Ditto.). Plutarch pretends that the ceremonies and feasts of the Jews were the same as those practised in Greece, with respect to Bacchus. Bacchus and Adonis are the same divinities, and the Jews abstain from swine's flesh, because Adonis was slain by a boar, It is no less remarkable, that Plutarch explains the derivation of Levites from Lysios, Avior, a name of Bacchus. SCRIPTURE CRITICISM. Explanation of Exodus x xiii. 19. "WHEN God,” saith Isaac Abrabanel, as quoted by Dr. Cudworth, "had spoken of the Jews appearing thrice before him every year, viz. at the Feast of the Passover or of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles or In-gathering, he subjoins immediately some rule concerning every one of these feasts in particular. First, for the Passover in those words "Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left until the morning.' " Secondly, for the Feast of Pentecost in those "The first of the first-fruits of the land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God." Thirdly, for the Feast of Tabernacles or In-gathering "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." Which words, continnes Dr. Cudworth, for want of this light of the context, were never yet sufficiently explained by any of our interpre ters. And the thread of this coherence alone led Abrabanel very near the true meaning of them, ere he was aware. But, because he doth not tell his tale so handsomely as he should, I will help him out a little from an ancient Karraite, whose comment I have seen upon the Pentateuch MSS. (for the monuments of these Karraite Jews were never yet printed, and are very rarely seen in these European parts). And it is thus "It was a custom of the ancient Heathens, when they had gathered in all their fruits, to take a kid and boil it in the dam's milk, and then in a magical way to go about and besprinkle with it all their trees, and fields, and gardens, and orchards; thinking by these means they should make them fructify, and bring forth fruit again more abundantly the following year." Wherefore God forbad his people, the Jews, at the time of their in-gathering, to use any snch superstitious or idolatrous rite. A Discourse concerning the LORD STOWELL ON MARRIAGE. THE extract which we lately made from Dr. Balguy's Letter to an unmarried lady, has been so favourably received, that we venture to print the following remarks upon the same subject. They are taken from a judgment of Lord Stowell, in the Consistory Court of London; in the case of Evans v. Evans,which was an application for a divorce on the part of the wife, on account of the alleged cruelty of the husband. "The humanity of the Court has been loudly and repeatedly invoked. Humanity is the second virtue of courts, but undoubtedly the first is justice. If it were a question of humanity simply, and of humanity which confined its views merely to the happiness of the present parties, it would be a question easily de. cided upon first impressions. Every body must feel a wish to sever those who wish to live separate from each other; who cannot live together with any degree of harmony, and consequently with any degree of happiness; but my situation does not allow me to indulge the feelings, REMEMBRRANCER, No. 48. much less the first feelings of an individual. The law has said, that married persons shall not be legally separated upon the mere disinclination of one or both to cohabit together. The disinclination must be founded upon reasons which the law approves; and it is my duty to see whether those reasons exist in the present case. "To vindicate the policy of the law is no necessary part of the office of a judge; but if it were, it would not be difficult to shew that the law, in this respect, has acted with its usual wisdom and humanity; with that true wisdom, that real humanity, that regards the general interests of mankind. For though in particular cases the repugnance of the law, to dissolve the obligations of matrimonial cohabitations, may operate with great severity upon individuals; yet it must be carefully remembered, that the general happiness of the married life is secured by its indissolubility. "When people understand that they must live together, except for 4 Y a very few reasons known to the law, they learn to soften, by mutual accommodation, that yoke which they know they cannot shake off; they become good husbands and good wives, from the necessity of remaining husbands and wives; for necessity is a powerful master in teaching the duties whick it imposes. "If it were once understood that, upon mutual disgust, married persons might legally be separated; many couples who now pass through the world with mutual comfort, with attention to their common offspring, and to the moral order of civil society, might have been at this moment in a state of mutual unkindness, in a state of estrangement from their common offspring, and in a state of the most licentious and unreserved immorality. In this case, as in many others, the happi. ness of some individuals must be sacrificed to the greater and more general good. "That the duty of cohabitation is released by the cruelty of one of the parties is admitted; but the question occurs, what is cruelty? In the present case, it is hardly necessary for me to define it, because the facts here complained of are such, as fall within the most restricted definition of cruelty, they affect not only the comforts, but they affect the health, nay, even the life of the party. I shall, therefore, decline the task of laying down a more direct definition. This, however, must be understood, that it is the duty of courts, and consequently the inclination of courts, to keep the rule extremely strict. "The causes must be grave and weighty, and such as shew an absolute impossibility, that the duties of the married life can be discharged. "In a state of personal danger no duties can be discharged; for the duties of self-preservation must take place before the duties of marriage, which are secondary both in commencement and in obligation; but what falls short of this is with great caution to be admitted. The rule of "per quod consortium admittitur," is but an inadequate test; for it still remains to be inquired, what conduct ought to produce that effect; whether the consortium is reasonably lost? and whether the party quitting has not too hastily abandoned the consortium? "What merely wounds the mental feelings is in few cases to be admit ted, where they are not accompanied with bodily injury, either actual or menaced. Mere austerity of temper, petulance of manners, rudeness of language, or want of civil attention and accommodation, even occasional sallies of passion, if they do not threaten bodily harm, do not amount to legal cruelty: they are high moral offences in the marriage state undoubtedly, not innocent surely in any state of life; but still they are not that cruelty against which the law can relieve. Under such misconduct of either of the parties, for it may exist on the one side as well as on the other, the suffering party must bear in some degree the consequence of an injudicious connection; must subdue by decent resistance or by prudent conciliation; and if this cannot be done, both must suffer in silence, And if it be complained that, by this inactivity of the courts, much injustice may be suffered and much misery produced; the answer is, that Courts of Justice do not pretend to furnish cures for the miseries of human life. They redress or punish gross violations of duty, but they go no farther; they cannot make men virtuous: and as the happiness of the world depends upon its virtue, there may be much unhappiness in it which human laws cannot undertake to remove. "Still less is it cruelty, where it wounds not the natural feelings, but the acquired feelings arising from particular rank and situation; for the court has no scale of sensibilities, by which it can guage the |
