received with ceremony, and sat at the window. The room is both higher and also larger than those below it has two projecting windows; and the whole floor is so much extended in front beyond the lower part of the building, that the projecting windows considerably overhang the street. In such an upper room, secluded, spacious, and commodious, St. Paul was invited to preach his parting discourse. The divan, or raised seat, with mats or cushions, encircles the interior of each projecting window : and I have remarked, that, when company is numerous, they sometimes place large cushions behind the company seated on the divan; so that a second tier of company, with their feet upon the seat of the divan, are sitting behind, higher than the front row. Eutychus, thus sitting, would be on a level with the open window; and, being overcome with sleep, he would easily fall out, from the third loft of the house, into the street, and be almost certain, from such a height, of losing his life. Thither St. Paul went down, and comforted the alarmed company by bringing up Eutychus alive. It is noted, that there were many lights in the upper chamber. The very great plenty of oil in this neighbourhood, would enable them to afford many lamps. The heat of these, and so much company, would cause the drowsiness of Eutychus, at that late hour, and be the occasion likewise of the windows being open."-Ibid. p. 66. Psalm cl. 5. "Praise him upon the loud cymbals."-" Some blind old men near me took great pleasure when joining in the responses at one part of the service, accompanied by the clangor of cymbals. This kind of performance was by no means musical. The Coptic is the only church wherein I have witnessed this custom, which accords literally with the words of the Psalmist, Praise him upon the loud cymbals.' "-Ibid. p. 113. Jer. xxx. 18. "The city shall be builded upon her own heap."— "Arrived at Dendera between Girge and Kene. This town retains the name which it had under the Romans. It is the Tentyra mentioned by Juvenal. About two miles from the village is the magnificent temple, one of the most complete, and, as it is one of the earliest, striking to travellers. These magnificent edifices, while they display the grandeur of former times, exhibit no less the meanness of the present. This temple, built of massive stone, with a portico of twenty-four pillars, adorned with innumerable hieroglyphics, and painted with beautiful colours, the brightness of which in many parts remains to this day, is choked up with dusty earth. Village after village, built of unburnt brick, crumbling into ruins, and giving place to new habitations, have raised the earth, in some parts, nearly to the level of the summit of the temple; and fragments of the walls of these mud huts appear even on the roof of the temple. In every part of Egypt, we find the towns built in this manner, upon the ruins, or rather the rubbish, of the former habitations. The expression in Jer. xxx. 18. literally applies to Egypt, in the very meanest sense: the city shall be builded upon her own heap. And the expression in Job xv. 28. might be illustrated by many of these deserted hovels: He dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.' Still more touching is the allusion in Job iv. 19; where the perishing generations of men are fitly compared to habitations of the frailest materials, built upon the heap of similar dwelling-places, now reduced to rubbish: How much less in them who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust.""-Ibid. p. 131. Ezekiel iv. 1: "Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem." There are on the island of Elephantina, 2 F singular memorials of the Roman troops, which have been quartered here. Many broken pieces of red earthenware, shreds of the potsherd, are found, which appeared to have served as tickets to the soldiers, assigning them their portion of corn. The name of Antoninus was found on some of them. They are written in Greek, and in black, in a running hand, very similar to that which is used in a Greek letter at this day. They are in small pieces, about the size of a man's hand, and each one appears complete, though it is difficult to decipher them. This seems to illustrate Ezek. iv. 1."—Ibid. 140. p. Gen. xli. 1—3. "There came up out of the river, seven well-favoured kine, and fat fleshed; and they fed in a meadow. And behold seven other kine came up after them, out of the river, ill favoured and lean fleshed.”- "At Molubis, on the east bank of the Nile, I observed a cattle fair. Several buffaloes were swimming from the opposite side across the water. Their unwieldy body sinks deep into the water, so that only a part of the neck is level with the surface; while their uplifted head just raises the snorting nostrils above the water. Often a little Arab boy takes his passage across the Nile upon the back of this animal, setting his feet on the shoulders, holding fast by the horns, and thus keeping his balance. As the buffaloes rose out of the water on the bank, I was struck with their large bony size, compared with the little that had appeared of them while in the water. Their emerging brought to mind the passage, Gen. xli. 1-3. It was the very scene and the very country." Ibid. p. 166. Exodus ii 3. "And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime, and with pitch, and put the child therein.""Our boat was ballasted with earth taken from the river banks, very stiff and rich soil, without stones. With this same mud the sides of the boat were plastered. At those parts in the fore half of the vessel, moveable planks were placed, in order to raise the gunnel higher; the mud filled up the crevices, and prevented the water from gushing in, as would otherwise be the case. This mud was so rich and slimy, and, when dry, so firm and impervious, that, together with the strong reed that grows on the banks, it is easy to conceive how the mother of Moses constructed a little ark which would float. She then placed it among the flags, in order that the stream might not carry it down." Ibid.p.168. Exodus v. 6, 8. "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore."-" The Mallems transact business between the bashaw and the peasants. He punishes them, if the peasants prove that they oppress: and yet he requires from them that the work of those that are under them shall be fulfilled. They strikingly illustrate the case of the officers placed by the Egyptian task-masters over the children of Israel: and, like their's, the Mallems often find that their case is evil."-Ibid. p. 168. Jer. xiii. 22. "For the greatness of thine iniquity, are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare."-"This passage may in some degree be explained by the oriental mode of sitting. I have often been struck with the manner in which a great man sits. For example, when I visited the bashaw, I never saw his feet: they were entirely drawn up under him, and covered by his dress. This was dignified. To see his feet, his skirts must have been discovered: still more so, in order to see the heels, which often serve as the actual seat of an Oriental."Ibid. p. 169. Jer. xlvi. 22, 23. "They shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. They shall cut down her forest."-This passage "points out one of the most effectual ways of subduing Egypt. The countless multitude of date trees, which form even forests about some of the villages, furnish a great source of subsistence to the people. To cut these down, (as it is said the French were proceeding to do, and would have done, but that the people surrendered at the prospect of their utter ruin,) would be to cut off the support of the present, and the hopes of a future, generation. Nothing could be more terrible than this denunciation against Egypt."-Ibid. p. 170. Deut. xxviii. 65, 66. "Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life.”—“ A gentleman, who was for some years British consul at Tripoli mentioned some circumstances which set in a striking light the state of fear and degradation in which the Jews there live. The life of a man seems to be valued there no more than the life of a moth. If the bey has a fear or jealousy of any man, he sends some one to put a pistol to his head and shoot him. If it happens to be a Christian, remonstrance is made by the consul of his nation. The bey is quite ready to give satisfaction: he sends some one to shoot the first agent of his cruelty; and then, with an air of great regret, asks the consul if he is satisfied: if not, he is ready to give him satisfaction still further. But if the object of his wrath be a Jew, no one would think of demanding satisfaction for his death. This people feel the curse in full, that, among the nations where they are scattered, they should find no ease, and have none assurance of their life. They are known by their being compelled to wear a particular dress, which they sometimes change in their own houses on occasion of their merry makings; but even in this they are not free, the Moors exercising the privilege of free ingress at any time."-Ibid. p. 231. FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CLXXII. 1 John i. 3.-Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. COMMUNION with God formed the chief happiness of paradise; but this happiness mankind lost by the fall, thus becoming alienated from God in the spirit of their minds. To restore us to this holy communion has been the object of Divine revelation under all its dispensations; whether to Adam on his expulsion from paradise, to the patriarchs af ter him, to the Israelites by the instrumentality of Moses, or to mankind at large under the Christian dispensation. The enjoyment of this sacred communion-this fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Ghost,our Sanctifier and Comforter-is a privilege which all are entitled to seek, and all may attain in the way appointed in the Gospel. Without it, religion is but a name, a form, destitute of all that constitutes its value. In order then to stir you up to seek so inestimable a blessing, I shall endeavour to point out, first, what is its nature; and, secondly, what are the best means of promoting it. First: In considering the nature of communion with God, I would guard you against the error of supposing that it means any thing superstitious or enthusiastic. It does not of necessity imply a high degree of delight, amounting to rapture, like that which St.Paul, for example, felt when, owing to the abundance of the revelation, he knew not whether he was in the body or out of the body. There may be as real communion with God in the hour of sorrow and depression, as in the time of the greatest spiritual enjoyment. Every true Christian, however weak his faith, or feeble his hopes, is living in a state of holy fellowship with God. His joys and afflictions may fluctuate: like the devout Psalmist, he may not at all times walk in the light of God's countenance; or,like the disci ples,not be always upon the mount of transfiguration; but this is no proof that his communion with his Father in heaven is cut off. The divine relation which binds him to his Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, remains firm, even when, in his moments of deep humility and selfabasement, he least enjoys that peace and satisfaction of mind which such a privilege is calculated to inspire. In considering, therefore, the nature of the fellowship mentioned in the text, we shall view it rather as the Christian's general privilege or habit of mind, than as connected with particular seasons of elevated enjoyment as the happy state of abiding spiritual mindedness to which he is introduced in consequence of his change of character and his union with his Saviour, than as affected by the changes of those uncertain feelings which are no test of the actual state of the heart before God. 1. Now the fellowship spoken of in the text supposes, in the first place, a scriptural knowledge of the Divine character. He that cometh to God must know that he is. and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. The way of access must also be known; namely, through the blood of a crucified Saviour, the only Mediator between God and man. Some contemplative heathen philosophers boasted of their devout meditations on the Deity, and of the communion they held with him, through the medium of his works, which no doubt loudly proclaim his presence and perfections. But the sacred communion which Christianity opens to us, extends much farther: we are not merely admitted to an admiring contemplation of the works of Creation, so as to raise in us a general vencration for their great Author; but we are expressly called unto "the fellowship of Jesus Christ his Son, our Lord." It is not enough to know God as a Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor. Our lost and alienated condition requires that we should know. him also as revealed in the Bible; as a God of inflexible justice, of eyes too pure to behold iniquity, and true to his threatenings as well as to his promises; but at the same time a God pardoning iniquity, transgression,and sin, to all who truly turn unto him; a God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life,--a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger, willing to receive the returning penitent through Christ Jesus, to sanctify him by his Holy Spirit, and to make him an inheritor of his kingdom in eternal glory. 2. Communion with God further supposes reconciliation.-We must not only understand something of his character, and of the relation which he is mercifully pleased to bear to his people, as a mere matter of doctrine; but there must be also a personal agreement or union with him, the basis of which is a spiritual renewal of our character, in order to qualify us for this divine intercourse. For "how can two walk together except they be agreed?" "What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness; and what communion hath light with darkness ?" While we remain impenitent and unconverted, there can be no communion with the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, and who dwells only with the humble and the contrite who tremble at his word. Indeed, till we are brought into a state of agreement with him, there is no wish on our part to cultivate this divine fellowship. Rather would we endeavour to conceal ourselves from him, as did Adam after his transgression amidst the trees of the garden. But when,like the prodigal son, we "come to ourselves;" when, like him, we begin deeply to lament our guilty estrangement from an infinitely kind and merciful Parent; then our language, like his, will be, "I will arise and go to my Father; and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." Then shall we listen with delight to the message of reconciliation held out in the Gospel: then shall we gladly embrace the proffered mercy of the new covenant; and then shall we come humbly by faith to Christ Jesus, who has procured this reconciliation for us by the blood of his cross. For he is the bond of union between us and the Father; and, being one with him and he with us, we have access through him to the throne of the Majesty on high: we are "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." 3. This fellowship, thus com. menced in repentance, faith, and conversion, and founded upon a state of reconciliation and agreement with God, further includes the exercise of holy love and veneration towards Him. This is indeed its very essence. In all our prayers, our praises, and our meditations, if we would have real communion with the Father of our spirits, we must approach him with filial duty and affection; ardently loving him because he first loved us. In such a frame of mind, how reverential, yet how delightful, is the fellowship of the Christian with his God! With what fervour does he pour out his soul before him! With what confidence does he look up for a supply of all his wants! With what gratitude does he reflect upon the mercy and truth which have followed him all the days of his life! How consoling are his recollections of the Divine promises made to him in Christ Jesus! What pleasure does he feel in the hope of his heavenly Father's favour! What fortitude does he derive in his arduous contest with the world, the flesh, and the devil, from the communications of strength and consolation which he receives from above! How confidently does he commit his soul to an all-wise and faithfulCreator! How animating are his meditations on the grace of his Redeemer; his tenderness, his sympathy, his all-sufficient atonement, his promises of protection by the way, and of eternal glory at the end! And lastly, how endearing is the aspect in which he is led to look up to the Holy Spirit, as the unfailing communicator of peace and consolation, of holiness and stability, and of all that is really good either for the body or the soul! Thus impressed with love and veneration towards a reconciled God and Father in Christ Jesus, the Christian admires his perfections, delights in the thought of his presence, and finds him ever at hand to listen to his petitions. His language is, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee !" " Though heart and flesh should fail, yet God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever." He has fellowship with the Father, as the original fountain of every mercy; with the Son, as having been partaker of our frail and feeble, but not in his case sinful,nature,—thus endearing himself to us in his sufferings and temptations, in his death and resurrection, in his victory over the powers of darkness, his triumphant exaltation to heaven, and his eternal session at the right hand of God as our High Priest and Mediator. With the Holy Ghost also he has fellowship in the daily progress of the Christian life, as deriving through Him, from the fulness treasured up in Christ Jesus, whatever is conducive to his conversion, sanctification, consolation, and admission to everlasting glory. This communion with God, founded upon a principle of love to Him, leads also to the communion of saints, and to universal love to mankind for God's sake. For there is in truth a close and inseparable union in the whole Christian family, however much the individuals that compose it may for a time be divided by lesser distinctions upon earth. All are united to one common Head, and all are |