est passions of the human heart? So does war. Does not the custom of duelling expose innocent families to be reduced to mourning, want and misery, by the death of those on whom they are dependant? War does more, it exposes the innocent families not only to loss of friends and property, but to be killed by the invading foe. Does the custom of duelling deprive the community of persons of eminent talents? So does war. Is duelling a perfectly uncertain mode of obtaining redress for wrong? So is war.

Similar observations might be made in comparing public wars with the ancient custom of private war. In each of the customs success depends more on skill, courage, and force, than on the principles of humanity, and equity. For success as often at tends the offender as the injured. To a considerate person it would be shocking to think how great a part of mankind must

appear at the bar of God, either as manslayers, or as persous who have been slaughtered by their brethren!

We are not authorized to say what allowance will be made by a merciful God, for the delusions which have resulted from the popularity of sanguinary customs. But if all professed Christians who have been coneerned in supporting these customs, and who died in such errors, shall be excluded from the kingdom of heaven; the followers of Jesus since the reign of Constantine may be emphatically called a "little flock." And if in the class of manslayers God shall include all who have been instigaters and encouragers of one or other of the seven sanguinary customs, and shall make no allowance for the influence of delusion, we may with the deepest concern exclaim, "who then can be saved!"

es,in which the law and the prophets were read and expounded, and the people instructed in the duties of their religion. They were also built within the cities. "Moses bath of old time," says Luke, “in every city, them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath." (Acts xv. 21) But a proseucha, or house of prayer, was a plot of ground, encompassed by a wall, or by. some other means enclosed, and open above; and as the name imports, was used ouly for prayer.

These houses of prayer were never built in the cities; but in the fields, or by a river side, or on the mountains; and in them, as in the temple, every one prayed apart, for himself. It was into one of these proseuchas that our Lord retired, when he went up into a mountain to pray; and the last expression of the evangelist would have been more accurately rendered, he continued all night in a proseucha, or a house of pray

er.

Josephus has preserved a decree of the city of Halicarnassus, permitting the Jews to build proseuchas; in which it is said, "we ordain that the Jews, who desire it, both men and women, do observe the Sabbath, and perform sacred rites according to the Jewish laws, and build proseuchas by the sea side, according to the custom of their country; and if any man, magistrate or private person, should molest them, he shall pay a fine to the city." And Philo Judæus says, applauding the clemency of Augustus Cæsar, "he knew the Jews had their proseuchas, and were accustomed to assemble in them, especially on the Sabbath; yet that he had never molested them, as had Caius." It appears indeed, that in the time of our Lord, the word proseucha, or house of prayer, comprehended also synagogues; yet twice in the New Testament it seems to have retained its original, and limited signification. The first is that which we have eited at the head of this number. The other is in the 13th verse of the 16th chapter of Acts, where we are told that when Paul, and those who were with him, were

come to Philippi, on the Sabbath day they went out of the city, by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; according to the Syriac, where there was perceived to be a house of prayer. The original expression implies, that it was a proseucha, or Jewish house of prayer.

Of the origin of these places of worship, we know nothing. The venerable Joseph Mede maintains, with his usual learning, that the sanctuary of the Lord, in Sichem, or Shechem, in which Joshua took a great stone, and set it up there, (Josh. xxiv. 26.) and to which he called an assembly of the people, was a proseucha; or house of prayer, which the Israelites, after they had subdued the country, had erected at the very place where God first appeared to Abraham,— where the patriarch built his first altar after he came into Canaan,-and where God had said to him, unto thee will I give this land. This is not indeed certain; but the conjecture is ingenious, and not improbably just.

But I would not willingly confine attention, even for a moment, to a subject or a fact of mere useless speculation. We are told by the Evangelist that our Lord, having continued all night in a house of prayer, when it was day, called his disciples, and of them chose twelve, whom he also named apostles. connexion of these circumstances is most interesting and instruc tive. The choice of his apostles is preceded by a whole night of prayer. And how forcibly are we taught in this conduct of

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our Lord,-who left us an example that we should walk in his steps, the solemn duty, in all the great and important purposes of our lives, with an application of our minds and hearts, proportioned to the magnitude of the object which interests us, to seek the guidance, and to cast ourselves on the disposal of God! It is a rich indulgence to the Christian student, to comprehend, as exactly as he can, the actual situation of our Lord as he is described by the Evangelists; the characters of those whom he addressed; the precise meaning of his expressions; and every circumstance which has a Connexion with his character and his instructions. But let it never be forgotten, that the end of a Christian's knowledge should be, the improvement of

his own practice. Nor will it be useless to have ascertained, that it was to a proseucha, or to a house of prayer upon a mountain, that Jesus retired for a night, before he made his election of his twelve apostles, if, in dwelling for a few moments upon the place of which he availed himself for a night of prayerin entering with him the enclo sure in which he had secretedhimself-we feel, as perhaps the association may aid us to feel, more deeply the obligation of his example, and are more pow erfully excited to go and do likewise.

[Joseph Medes' works, p. 6567 Lardner, v. 1. p. 110-112. Lewis' Orig. Heb. B. 3. c. 9. Prideaux Connect. P. 1. B. 6. v. 2. p. 556 ]

DEAR SIR,

I SEND to you the following anecdote, from a review of Forbes' Oriental Memoirs. It will interest those who read only to be entertained. It will much more deeply interest all, whose Christian sympathies are excited by the debased condition of the heathen world; and are accustomed to indulge their thoughts upon the practicability, or are already convinced of the duty, of extending the light which we enjoy, to those who are in darkness.

"A Brahmin, far beyond his brethren both in powers of mind and extent of knowledge, lived in No. 2. Vol. IV.

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thing which had life, devoured innumerable animalculæ upon every vegetable which they ate. The Brahmin, instead of being delighted as his friend had expected, became unusually thoughtful, and at length retired in si lence. On his next visit, he requested that the gentleman would sell him the microscope. To this it was replied, that it was a present from Europe, and not to be replaced. The Brahmin however was not discouraged by the refusal. He offered a very large sum of money, or an Indian commodity of equal value; and at length his friend, weary of his importunities, or unwilling longer to resist him, gave him the microscope. The eyes of the Hindoo flashed with joy. He seized the instrument, hastened away, caught up a large stone, and in an instant smashed it in pieces. Having done this, he said in reply to the angry reproaches of his friend, that when he was cool he would pay him a visit, and explain his reasons. Upon that visit he thus addressed his friend:

"O that I had remained in that happy state of ignorance, in which you found me! Yet I confess, that as my knowledge increased, so did my pleasure, till 1 beheld the wonders of the microscope. From that moment, I have been tor mented by doubts. I am miserable, and must continue to be so, till I enter upon another state of existence. I am a solitary individual among fifty millions of people, all brought up in the same belief as myself, and all happy in their ignorance. I will keep the secret within my own bosom. It will destroy my peace; but I

shall have some satisfaction in knowing, that I alone feel those doubts, which, had I not destroyed the instrument, might have been communicated to others, and rendered thousands wretched. Forgive me, my friend; and bring here no more implements of knowledge."

And could a microscope alone shake the faith of a Brahmin, even to its deepest foundations? Did he feel the whole fabric of the superstition, in which his soul had taken up its quiet residence, falling into ruins about him, by the acquisition of so very small a portion of the knowledge, which an enlightened philosophy conveys? What then may we not hope from intelligent, well directed, and persevering zeal in that mighty empire, in the parts of which in subjection to the British government, there is computed to be a population of sixty million souls! The lesson of the broken microscope will not have been given in vain. Its wonders will be exhibited, and the progress of general knowledge advanced; and the fall of superstition will be the triumph of the gospel.

1 cannot refrain from the re

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mark, although it will probably be suggested to the minds of ma ny of your readers, that while the genius of the religion of an East Indian, shrinks appalled even from one ray of light, and retains its reverence and exercises its power, only because it is shrouded in darkness, and acts unseen, the religion of Christians, blessed be God, after being exposed to the broad day of all the^ enlightened periods of eighteen