weighed for the price thereof." (Job xxviii. 15.)

Do you regard
Here also the

you wise unto

a friend's gift because of the importance of its use? Bible is pre-eminent, for its use is “to make salvation, through faith that is in Christ Jesus." Other gifts are only for this life; and how long or how short a time that may continue, God only knows. But the scriptures are given as a means, which, by the influence of the Holy Spirit, sealing their truths on the heart, and the fruits of them being produced in the life, through the Divine blessing, shall bring forth results of the utmost importance in eternity, even a life of holiness and glory, with God and his Christ, which shall never have an end.

So great, in every respect, is the superiority of God's gift over any other. A pious and learned writer says, "Read the Bible first, read it in the middle of other studies, read it last of all. There ought to be no part of the scriptures to which you have been long a stranger. The whole should be read through again and again. Let it be your daily, constant, and never-failing companion and guide. Let its truths be continually revolving in your mind. Look upwards for the teaching of the Holy Spirit."

The Old Testament may be very well read through once, and the Psalms and New Testament twice, in the course of twelve months. Resolve, now, then, by divine assistance, to begin and honour God, by reading, studying, and meditating upon his word, which will prove a "lamp to your feet and a light to your path," praying with all humility, that you may be enabled to understand it, and for grace, to shew forth its doctrines in a holy and consistent life, being urged to this duty by the command of him, “who hath loved you and given himself for you," who said "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." DALETH.

MR. EDITOR,

A FAREWELL VISIT.

I hasten to transmit you an account of an extraordinary visit made to one of your constant readers, with the hope of its being useful to others.

At a late hour on the last day of the past year, being quite alone, an elderly personage, wearing a most serious aspect, and

apparently prepared for an early departure, in a quiet and orderly manner, entered my apartment. I did not at first recognize him, though equipped in the same travelling guise he had always worn, for, from the peculiar situation which he now occupied, I was compelled to look back upon him, and he seemed under that unusual aspect to be so much shorter than I had once supposed him, that wiser heads than my own might have hesitated to pronounce who he was. But he did not long remain silent. "I have just stepped in," said he, "to bid you farewell, and to remind you, on parting, of some of those scenes which we have passed together, hoping that my reflections may be of some service to you after I am gone." Immediately I prepared myself for a humbling lecture from my ancient friend, (for I had now recognized him as such,) on the subject of my obligations to him.

"Perhaps you will be surprised at the fact," said he, "but you and I have been companions for many months. I was sent to attend you that you might increase in knowledge, do more good, draw nearer to God, and be better prepared for heaven; for all these purposes of life and godliness I have been with you so many hours each day. I have led you to hear sermons, and brought you many lessons on Providence. I have not failed to warn and instruct you, by exhibiting what has passed in the circumstances of others. I have shewn you sudden sickness overtaking the healthy, grievous to be borne, baffling the skill of man, and the power of medicine. I have shewn you death in various forms, in persons of all ages and stations. Some have been cut down in youth-some by sickness, others by sudden accident. Some have been removed from a course of active intemperance, to the bar of God. Many have departed regretting the mis-improvement of life, when it was too late to remedy it; and some are gone, leaving with their names a fragrant odour; but alas! how few! And now, also, in bidding you farewell, I call you to witness my fidelity. I have brought you the fruits of the earth in their seasons. I have poured into your lap month after month, nay day by day, the bounties of a kind Providence. I have been careful of your health, limbs, and faculties. Day by day I have brought you the blest volume of revelation. Every sabbath have led you within the sound of a preached gospel. In a word, I have furnished you, with the mercies of God, 'new every morning, and fresh every evening,' and

as your day, so has your strength been.'-I must now leave you; and though you have not profited as you ought to have done, yet being one of Time's family, and disposed to mercy, I will ask that you may have the benefit of my successor's services; reminding you, that your behaviour to such as come after me will make your case either better or worse, in the eyes of Him whose servants we are. But remember," he said, at parting, "that though I now bid you farewell, I shall meet you again with the many of my predecessors at the bar of heaven. Then I shall give my evidence much fuller than I have now done, and I make no doubt of being able fully to acquit myself of having done my duty, whatever I may say of your's. But I tell you plainly, that it will go hard with you at the last day, unless any who come after me can say more in your favor, than your late counsellor and companion— EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE!"

With that he left me in midnight darkness, and a spirit of godly sorrow. How much had I done in error, and how much had I left undone in indolence, while the past year was bearing silent witness to my faults! How had I forgotten whilst my friend was hastening to his end, that I was drawing near to mine! How had I despised his counsel, and rejected his reproof, whilst he was daily overturning human hopes, and writing "VANITY" all around me. As the vision faded from my sight, I thought as I had seldom thought before, of the fulness of that mercy which had spared me through another year, and of the purposes for which it was vouchsafed. "Despisest thou the riches of His goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering," I said within myself, "not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thine hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God."

How serious should these considerations make me, for what a deal have I to do! What lost ground to fetch up! What a defective character to improve! Henceforth, then, let decision and diligence, a prayerful spirit, and an active mind, mark my progress to the end of time.

1st Jun. 1836.

ITEM.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS.

(From Jameson's Eastern Manners.)

HIS SHEEP FOLLOW HIM FOR THEY KNOW HIS VOICE."
John x. 4.

So accustomed are the shepherds of the East to an itinerant mode of life, and so well acquainted with the habits and management of their cattle, that no sooner are their tents struck, and the signal given for departure, than each with the greatest expedition falls into his place, applies himself with alacrity to the part he has to bear in the removal of the camp, and the whole procession moves forward with a regularity as beautiful as it is surprising. The lead is taken by the sheep and goats, marshalled under their respective herdsmen ; and, notwithstanding the want of roads and enclosures, the art of these devoted shepherds enables them to conquer the difficulty of keeping their vagrant charge in the line of march, by going first themselves, and calling every now and then to some male of the flock, generally a he-goat, which they have taught to answer to a name, and the movements of which, as he takes the lead, are implicitly followed by his gregarious brethren.

"CHANGES OF RAIMENT."-Gen. xlv. 22.

When Joseph had prepared the way for the removal of his father and the rest of his family to Egypt, he was naturally desirous that their first appearance in that country should be in circumstances likely to command the respect of his adopted countrymen; and, accordingly, one of his first cares, after providing them with a suitable equipage for their journey, was to equip them for presentation at court, in a manner worthy of their alliance with the second magistrate in the kingdom. There was no peculiarity in the circumstance of his furnishing them with a sumptuous dress for the grand occasion, both because it is customary among all people, for those who are privileged to approach the presence of royalty, to be decked in the gayest and costliest attire, and because, from his ample means and noble rank, he must have been better acquainted than these simple swains from the mountains of Canaan, with all the niceties of the Egyptian VOL. IX. 3d SERIES.

F

court etiquette. But the remarkable circumstance in the equipment of Joseph's brethren is, that while with us, persons who are admitted to an audience of the king, content themselves with one suit of the appropriate costume, which is always provided at great expense, and distinguished by its splendour, all of them were supplied with several changes of raiment, and to Benjamin were given five changes; a supply which conveys the idea that, at the Egyptian court, the honour consisted in appearing successively in a great variety of dresses; and accordingly we learn, on the testimony of modern travellers, that the custom still prevails for the grandees of the Eastern courts, to consider the greatest distinction as belonging to those who have it in their power to shew themselves in a succession of different sumptuous robes. The origin of such a practice seems to be, that, in the East, these courtly garments are invariably the gift of the king; and none are permitted to appear in his presence in any dress that is not furnished from the royal wardrobe. Even foreigners of distinction, though decked in the richest costume of their own country, are obliged to comply with this custom of the East, of which a curious instance occurred to a European embassy at the court of Persia. The king having sent to invite the ambassadors to dine with him, the Mehmander told them, on their arrival at the palace, that it was the custom that they should wear over their own clothes the best of those garments which the king had sent them. The ambassadors at first made some scruples about complying; but, on being told that it was the custom observed by all ambassadors, and that, no doubt, the king would be highly affronted if they presented themselves before him without the marks of his liberality, they resolved to do it, and the whole of their retinue followed the example. To supply these robes of honour to such as they intend to admit to an audience, the princes of the East, even to the present day, have always immense wardrobes, stocked with a large and varied assortment of the most splendid vestments; and, of course, they have no difficulty in at once bestowing on any new candidate for their favour, a garment exactly corresponding to the degree of honour they mean to confer.* They have only to issue

*This fact illustrates the parable of the " great supper;" and shews how all the guests, though collected from the highways and hedges, might appear in wedding garments.