With what joy did I hear the first preacher proclaim
The tidings of peace in Emmanuel's name;
That he by his death most benignantly gave
Salvation alike to the freeman and slave.

E. G. B.

YOUTHS' Magazine! my eye bas gazed
O ften on thine instructive page,
Until my youthful thoughts were raised
To many a theme sublime and sage;
Here am I pleased in every mood,
Society and solitude.

Mayst thou, unvaunting work impart

A mongst the young to whom thou'rt sent
Good humour, kindliness of heart,

A nd readiness to be content.

So may the God of love, and truth,
In mercy to the souls of youth,
N e'er let them from His ways depart,
Engrave His precepts on their heart.

MARY JANE.

THE

YOUTHS' MAGAZINE;

OR

Evangelical Miscellany.

OCTOBER, 1832.

MOUNT TABOR.

MOUNT TOR, or Tabor, rises in solitary majesty from the Plain of Esdraëlon. Its appearance has been described by some authors as that of a half-sphere, while to others it suggests the idea of a cone with its point struck off. According to Mr. Maundrell, the height is such as to require the labor of an hour to reach the summit; where is seen a level area of an oval figure, extending about two furlongs in length and one in breadth. It is enclosed with trees on all sides except the south, and is most fertile and delicious. Having been anciently surrounded with walls and trenches, there are remains of considerable fortifications at the present day. Burckhardt says, a thick wall, constructed of large stones, may be traced quite round the summit, close to the edge of the precipice; on several parts of which are relics of bastions. The area too is overspread with the ruins of private dwellings, built of stone with great solidity.

Pococke assures us that it is one of the finest hills he ever beheld, being a rich soil that produces excellent herbage, and most beautifully adorned with VOL. V. 3rd SERIES.

Ee

groves and clumps of trees. The height he calculates to be about two miles, making allowance for the winding ascent; but he adds, that others have imagined the same path to be not less than four miles. Hasselquist conjectures that it is a league to the top, the whole of which may be accomplished without dismounting, a statement amply confirmed by the experience of Van Egmont and Heyman. These travellers relate that "this mountain, though somewhat rugged and difficult, we ascended on horseback, making several circuits round it, which took up about three quarters of an hour. It is one of the highest in the whole country, being thirty stadia, or about four English miles. And it is the most beautiful we ever saw with regard to verdure, being every where decorated with small oak trees, and the ground universally enamelled with a variety of plants and flowers.

This mountain derives the largest share of its celebrity from the opinion entertained among Christians since the days of Jerome, that it was the scene of a memorable event in the history of our Lord. On the eastern part of the hill are the remains of a strong castle; and within the precincts of it is the grotto, in which are three altars in memory of the three tabernacles that St. Peter proposed to build, and where the Latin friars always perform mass on the anniversary of the Transfiguration. It is said there was a magnificent church built here by Helena, which was a cathedral when this town was made a bishop's see. the side of the hill they shew a church in a grot, where they say Christ charged his disciples not to tell what things they had seen till he should be glorified.

On

The view from Mount Tabor is extolled by every traveller. "It is impossible," says Maundrell, "for man's eyes to behold a higher gratification of this nature." On the north-west you discern in the distance the noble expanse of the Mediterranean, while all around you see the spacious