of the East: There are no inns any where, excepting a caravansera for travellers near villages and towns. These consist of four wings round a square court, which serves by way of enclosure for beasts of burden. The lodgings are cells, where you find nothing but bare walls, dust, and sometimes scorpions. The keeper gives the traveller a key and a mat, and he provides himself the rest. He must therefore carry with him his bed, his kitchen utensils, and even his provisions, for frequently not even bread is to be found in the villages."

"These are very different from ours, indeed!"

"Truly they are. Tavernier says, 'The caravanseras, or Eastern inns, are very different from ours; for they are neither so convenient nor so handsome: they are built square, much like cloisters, being usually but one story high, for it is rare to see one of two stories. A wide gate brings you into the court, and in the midst of the building, in the front, and upon the right and left hand, is a hall for persons of the best quality to associate together. On each side of the hall are lodgings for every man by himself. These lodgings are raised all along the court, two or three steps high;

How does Volney describe the Eastern inns ? What must a traveller carry with him? What does Tavernier say of the Caravanseras }

just behind which are the stables, where, many times, the accommodations are as good as in the chambers. Right against the head of every horse there is a niche, with a window into the lodging chamber, through which every man may see that his horse is properly looked after. These niches are usually so large, that three men may lie in them, and here the servants usually dress their victuals.' You see, Harry, it is as I told you; their inns are very unlike ours. How thankful ought we to be for the admirable accommodations of more civilized society!

KEYS.

"Did you notice, father, what was said in my Greek lesson, this morning, about the key?"

"Yes, Harry; I think the piece was from the twenty-first book of Homer's Odyssey; and the key you refer to was that of the store-house of Ulysses."

"But, I mean, did you observe what was said of the shape of it?"

"Yes, I think Homer calls it by a term which signi fies,' of a large curvature.' The critics say, it was in What is said of the key mentioned in Homer's Odyssey?

shape like a reaping-hook. It was made of brass, but the handle was of ivory; though the locks and keys in the East are very commonly made of wood."

"Is there any reference to this kind of key in the Bible ?"

"Yes, in the prophecies of Isaiah, God is represented as saying of a distinguished individual; 'I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder.'” "A key, father, in the shape of a reaping hook, might be laid easily on the shoulder, as I have seen the reapers thus often place their sickles. But it would be very strange if any one should talk of hanging any of the keys which we use upon the shoulder."

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True, Harry; and hence you see the great importance of the knowledge of Eastern customs to a right understanding of the Scriptures. The language, as used by the Prophet, is figurative. The key is an ensign of power. Thus Our Lord says of himself, that He hath the key of David' that He 'openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.' This plainly implies that His power in the invisible world is unlimited. This doctrine accords with his own declaration to his disciples after He arose from the

What is said of a key in the prophecies of Isaiah? What was probably the shape of the key? Of what is a key the ensign in the Scriptures?

dead; All power, said He, 'is given to me in heaven and on earth.' How delightful to the real Christian is the consideration, that He who loves him with an infinite affection-yea, who has given Himself to die upon the cross for him, has in His hands the keys of the invisible worlds, and of death;'* and that He has engaged to open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers.'

COVENANTS.

When God made a covenant, or an agreement, with the Patriarch Abraham, he bade him take a heifer, and a she-goat, and a ram, and divide them in the midst, and lay each piece one against the other. Gen. xv. 9. 10. Now here is the usual mode of making

Gen. xv. 9. And he said unto him, take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle dove and a young pigeon.

10. And he took unto him all these and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another; but the birds divided he not.

What does our Lord say of himself? What is implied by the words of our Lord? What declaration did Jesus make to his disciples after he arose from the dead? What consideration is delightful to the real Christian? What did God bid Abraham to do? Repeat the verses from Gen.

* So Dr. Doddrige renders Rev. i. 18.

treaties or engagements in the East. A Jewish writer says, 'that it was a custom with those who entered into covenant with each other to take a heifer, and cut it in two, and then the contracting parties passed between the pieces."

"For what did they do this, father?"

"No doubt, to intimate that if they were unfaithful to their engagements, they would be willing to be thus cut asunder, or to perish. Thus the Prophet Jeremiah represents the Almighty as saying, that He would give those into the hands of their enemies, who had transgressed his covenant which they had made before him, 'when,' he says, 'they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof.""

"But did not you say, that God made a covenant with Abraham? It does not tell us, in that chapter, that God went between the pieces of the animals, does it ?"

"Not in so many words; but that which was equivalent to it took place. It is said, in the seventeenth verse, 'When the sun went down, and it was dark,' that a burning lamp passed between those pieces :' this was, no doubt, an expressive symbol of God's

What does a Jewish writer say of covenants? What was meant by it? What does the Prophet Jeremiah represent the Almighty as saying? What is said in the 17th verse of Gen. ?