OF MAKING MANY BOOKS THERE IS NO END. Ir has been ascertained that the length of the book-shelves in the library of the British Museum, which hold 260,000 volumes, is 42,240 feet, or 8 miles. The length of shelves in the library at Munich, containing 500,000 volumes, taking the same proportion, will be 15 miles and 2-5ths. The King's library in Paris, of 650,000 volumes, must, by the same calculation, have not less than 20 miles of shelf. THE LION FOILED. "ON our route homeward we halted at a spot where a novel scene once occurred, and which was described by an individual who witnessed it when a boy. Near a very small fountain, which was shown to me, stood a camel thorn-tree, (Acacia Giraffe). It was a stiff tree, about twelve feet high, with a flat, bushy top. Many years ago, the relater, then a boy, was returning to his village, and having turned aside to the fountain for a drink, lay down on the bank, and fell asleep. Being awoke by the piercing rays of the sun, he saw, through the bush behind which he lay, a giraffe browsing at ease on the tender shoots of the tree, and to his horror, a lion, creeping like a cat, only a dozen yards from him, preparing to pounce on his prey. The lion eyed the giraffe for a few moments, his body gave a shake, and he bounded into the air, to seize the head of the animal, which instantly turned his stately neck, and the lion, missing his grasp, fell on his back in the centre of the mass of thorns, like spikes, and the giraffe bounded over the plain. The boy instantly followed his example, expecting, as a matter of course, that the enraged lion would soon find his way to the earth. Some time afterwards, the people of the village, who seldom visited that spot, saw the eagles hovering in the air; and as it is almost always a certain sign that the lion has killed game, or some animal is lying dead, they went to the place, and sought in vain, till, coming under the lee of the tree, their olfactory nerves directed them to where the lion lay dead in his thorny bed. I still found some of his bones under the tree, and hair on its branches, to convince me of what I scarcely could have credited.-Moffatt's Africa. THE COMMON SALVATION.* "The divine oracles (or Sacred Scriptures) are not to be de-spised, because they abound not in a superfluity of words, but deliver truth in its native beauty and simplicity. It had been easy for the Fountain of Wisdom, who has bestowed eloquence upon even bad men, to have made the heralds of truth more eloquent than Plato, acuter than Demosthenes, and more ready at syllogisms than Aristotle and Chrysippus. But his design was not, that five, or ten, or fifteen, or a hundred, or twice so many more, should taste the salutary waters; but that all men, Greeks and barbarians, should have the benefit: and not only such as had been taught in schools of rhetoric and philosophy, but shoemakers, and tailors, and smiths, and all sorts of mechanics, and servants, and husbandmen, and in a word, rich and poor, and men and women of all conditions. For this reason he made use of fishermen, and publicans, and a tentmaker, as instruments; and by them he conveyed to men divine and useful knowledge: not altering the manner of speech to which they had been used, and in which they had been bred; but nevertheless pouring out, by their means, the pure and refreshing streams of wisdom. Just as if an entertainer should bring forth to his guests rich and fragrant wine in plain cups and glasses: they who thirst would drink the liquor, and without regarding the cups, admire the wine. So have men acted in this case." MAHOMET AND SOCINUS. The affinity between Socinianism and some of the dogmas of Mahomet is evident; indeed, of the two, Moslems entertain the more honorable notion of Christ; for, although Mahomet makes Gabriel affirm that Jesus Christ is but an apostle; yet, after describing him as the WORD-we ask, is not the DIVINITY of We copy the above remarks from Macardy's Synopsis of the Evidences of Christianity—a work deserving our warmest commendation. It is at once compendious and conclusive, and though of such moderate dimensions, contains a fund of exceedingly valuable and important detail, calculated to impart to all who study it, the fullest confidence in the divine authority of Scripture. We are truly rejoiced to find that it has already reached a second edition; and venture to hope: that in these days of infidelity and departure from the old paths,' it may meet with as extensive a sale as the circumstances of the times appear to require. Christ tacitly admitted? We believe that the WORD and SPIRIT are consubstantial with the FATHER; and that although there are THREE distinct persons, there is but ONE Nature. St. John says, "In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with GOD, and the WORD was GOD." THE OUTLAW'S DOG. (See the Vignette.) How pitiable was the situation of the outlaw in the olden tyme! He was a wanderer like Cain; fearing, but with more reason, that the first fellow-creature he encountered, would kill him for until the reign of Edward III., he was unprotected from violence and death, having a price put upon his head, and being considered as a wolf, hated by every man. The following extract from an old law writer upon this subject, may afford an exercise for the ingenuity of our young readers :-"Utlage pur felonie teigne leu pur loup, et est criable woolfeshered, pur ceo que loupe est beast hay de touts gents et de ceo en auant list al ascun de le occire ou foer del loup dont custome soloit este de porter les testes al chiefe lieu del countie, ou de la franchise, et soloit leu auoire dun man del countie pur chescun teste de utlage et de loupe." Well might he, then, under these circumstances, attempt to secure himself from attack, by the vigilance of his faithful bloodhound! Are there no outlaws but those proscribed by the statutes of the realm? Many. Every unrenewed sinner is an outlaw-an alien from the commonwealth, a stranger to the covenant-whom bolts and bars will not protect when God makes inquisition for blood! But no sooner is confession made and accepted, than the outlawry is reversed, and the poor penitent is again admitted, not only to his father's land, but welcomed to his father's heart! FRIENDS. GRIEF cannot put back the dial. As we supply by new flowers those that fade in our vases, so it is the secret of worldly wisdom, to replace by fresh friendships those that fade from our path. ANCIENT EGYPT AND ITS HIEROGLYPHICS. (Continued from page 390.) Another Pharaoh is mentioned as having made alliance with Solomon at a period long subsequent to the exodus of the Jews; and in the reign of Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, is referred to by name. On the monuments of the country, this is expressed by the characters SH. SH. N. K. Shishak or Shishank, as you are aware, came up against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots, and 60,000 horsemen, and the people were without number, that came with him out of Egypt. He took away the treasures of the temple, and the king's house; and though no mention is made of the personal captivity of Rehoboam, his people were expressly destined to become the servants of Shishak. A cartouche figured in Wilkinson's Materia Hieroglyphica, contains the letters R.E.B.O.M, and the symbol understood to mean foreigner or foreign land. It is borne by a half-length figure, whose aquiline nose, long beard, and thick lips, evidently bespeak him a descendant of Abraham. Zerah, the Ethiopian or Cushite, is the next sovereign connected with Egypt, referred to in the Bible. His name occurs on some monuments still extant, where it is written SS. R.A. or Z.R.A. Herodotus mentions seven sovereigns who followed about this time, amongst whom are the three builders of the three great pyramids of Egypt-Cheops, Cephrenes, and Mycerinus. Not one of their names occurs on any of the monuments. A coffin brought from the third pyramid by Col. Howard Vyse, and now in the British Museum, has been much talked of, as bearing the name of Mycerinus; but there is no truth in this statement. The inscription reads—“ Osirian, king of the obedient people (Sun of confirmed offerings,) of eternal life," and does not contain a single letter of the monarch's name. The portion of the inscription contained within the cartouche, (indicated by brackets), if interpreted phonetically, instead of symbolically, would read, Rémekekek, and not Menkare, as explained by Col. Vyse; but there is no authority whatever for so explaining it, as by the signs which precede the oval, it evidently contains the title, and not the proper name of the monarch commemorated. Four of the five characters employed in this instance, occur on a tablet in the British Museum referred to Amenumis II.; and a fifth, translated "golden," occupies the place of that which I have rendered "confirmed." The whole is interpreted, "Son of golden offerings." We have now arrived at an exceedingly interesting period in the history of Egypt-the era of the prophets of the Old Testament, which I believe to have been the golden age of that country, as regarded its power, influ ence, and resources. Hence it was that we find Isaiah commissioned to denounce the Jews for their confidence in that people. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong. Now the Egyptians are men and not God; and their horses flesh and not spirit." Hence it was that he was directed to lift up his voice like a trumpet against their detestable idolatries, and to threaten those judgments which eventually told upon them with such fearful effect. Some of his prophecies were at work within a short time of their utterance, such as that which threatened that Egypt should" be like unto women." For Herodotus describes the men as effeminate, and habitually employed on works which properly devolve on female hands, and his statement has been strikingly verified by the discovery of spinning instruments and similar utensils in the coffins of their male mummies. Other prophecies were slower in their operation, like that which predicts their intestine wars. "They shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom." In accordance with this denouncement, Juvenal describes them as literally tearing each other's eyes out. 1 The towns of Ombos and Tentyra hate Each other, for some grudge of ancient date, The rabble, ever ripe for war, detest Their neighbours' gods, and think their own the best ; But now, some feast-day finds the foe at ease, Their reckless chiefs, th' unguarded moment seizę. Egypt is truly horrid !-Heard afar, Now shrieks and brawlings sound the trump of war; It was this proneness on the part of the Jews to rely upon Egypt, and especially to leaven with its idolatries the purer truths of God, that led Ezekiel at a later period to protest against the conduct, even of "the ancients of the house of Israel," and to lay open the awful secrets of those chambers of imagery, where they sought deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, saying, "The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth." It is worthy of a passing remark that the prophet could only have so pierced the gloom of these tombs and temples, as to describe them in the way he does, by the immediate inspiration of |
