the passage before us, Ezekiel is relating the story of the rebellious Israelites, who had so repeatedly forsaken the God of their fathers, and turned aside to worship idols of wood and stone-the work of their own hands. It was for this sin especially that God long threatened, and did at last fulfil the threat, to suffer them to be led away captive into a strange land.

Ezekiel repeats the history of Israel's disobedience and idolatry from the time they left Egypt, to the period just before the captivity of Babylon, which he foretels would be followed by their restoration to their own land, where they should never again worship idols, but serve the Lord in his holy mountain (see Ezek. xx. 40. 42). We never find that the Jews worshipped idols after they returned from Babylon, so deeply did they, as Ezekiel foretold they would, loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils they had committed.

But what is deserving of notice in this passage, is the word "Bamah," which signifies a high place, or an altar for idols. It is usually employed as a term of reproach, though the true worship was also often performed in high places, as we read in 1 Sam. ix. 13. Yet the name Bamah being given to the place where the people had offered idolatrous sacrifices, was, as Ezekiel tells them, a perpetual remembrance of their sin, kept up long after they had ceased to be idolaters.

The margin expresses the meaning of the verse, which is literally: "I told them what the high place (or Bamah) was, whereunto they went; and to this day it is called Bamah."

The people of Israel, as soon as they entered the promised land, saw these high places which the heathens, who formerly inhabited Canaan, had made. They began to offer sacrifices upon them; in spite of the Lord's warning, in spite of his having told them that these high places were abominations to Him, because of the idolatry there committed,-they still persisted in frequenting them for such a length of time, that even when the worship of idols was given up, the place was still called Bamali, or an high place; so difficult is it to blot out the remembrance of long continued practices.

I have often heard it remarked, that learning is not needful to salvation; and it is true to a certain extent. It is true for the poor and meek; but it is also true that learning is valuable to a teacher, because, unless he understands something of the language in which the Scriptures were written, he may be perplexed how to explain difficult passages to his hearers; and some that really have an instructive meaning might be passed over through ignorance of their signification. Much harm is done by persons setting up to be teachers and even ministers of the Gospel, who have not been instructed sufficiently to teach others. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and when the queen of Sheba came to prove him with hard questions, he told her all she asked. St. Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers. He was skilled also in the Greek language, and could speak to the people of Athens (the most learned in the world) of their own writers. All this increased his influence; and every thing that gives us influence for good is valuable. Learning enables men to silence the scoffs of those who mock at the Scriptures as if they contained things useless or incomprehensible, and shows that every word has its meaning, and may teach us some lesson.

When a Jew saw the place called Bamah, it would remind him of his fathers' sin, and if he were a humble and true worshipper, he would pray to be kept from falling into the same grievous transgressions.

Let us, if we pass any place with a name which recals some event in our own country, or any sinful customs which have been abolished', always strive to make the

1 It is remarkable that all our days of the week are named after the heathen gods which our Saxon forefathers worshipped in "high places." Sun-day, the first, was kept holy to the Sun, their chief god. Mon-day was the Moon's holy day, she was the chief goddess. Tues-day was Tuesco's day, another idol.

Wednes-day or Woden's day, from Woden or Odin, god of war.

Thurs-day, from Thor, the god of thunder.

Fri-day, from Frea's day, the goddess (wife of Thor).

Satur-day, from Saturn, the father of all the gods.

remembrance profitable, by praying that we may be delivered from such evil, and led in the way of truth.

ON ISAIAH i. 8.-First Lesson for Advert Sunday.

"The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers."

In the East it is found necessary to place small huts or sheds in the vine, melon, or cucumber grounds, wherein a man is seated to watch all night against the attacks of wild animals who would plunder the fruit.

In the beautiful paintings now exhibited of the country round ancient Nineveh, one of the early scenes represents a melon ground, with a solitary hut in its centre, and the attendant who explains the picture, describes the ravages of the wild boar on these plantations as so great, as to oblige their owners to use great watchfulness to guard against it. While visiting this exhibition and seeing the painting here described, the words of David recurred to me: "The wild boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it " (Ps. lxxx. 13); and I was also reminded of the passage in Isaiah, which is scarcely to be understood without a knowledge of this eastern custom. The utter solitude of the dweller in these little huts, placed in the midst of large tracts of ground, removed from all other habitations, is a fit emblem of the desolation to which the prophet foretels the guilty city of Jerusalem should be reduced; see ver. 7: "Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers."

In Isaiah v. 2 it is said, that the vineyard therein described had a tower in the midst of it, which was for the same purpose of watching against plunderers, whether men or beasts. A very large vineyard would require a loftier building than a small enclosure, to enable the watcher to see to its utmost extremity. How fitting is the comparison of a desolate city to a cottage in a vineyard-a small and lowly hut,-while the prosperous and large possession is distinguished by a tower.

ON GENESIS xxv. 30.

"And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom."

By a careless reader, or an ignorant one, this passage is scarcely to be understood; and it is one of those which have been made a subject for infidel mockery; but to those who have been taught its meaning by persons acquainted with the Hebrew language, there is no difficulty or perplexity.

We find throughout the Bible, that persons often received more than one name, and that the second name was given in consequence of some action or event in which they were concerned. Thus Jacob had the name of Israel added to his own name, when he wrestled with the angel and prevailed (Gen. xxxii. 28), the name Israel signifying "a prince of God." Gideon received another name, viz. Jerubbaal (Judg. vi. 32), when he had thrown down the altar of Baal, his father saying, "Let Baal plead for himself." Solomon was also called Jedidiah (2 Sam. xii. 25).

Those who are acquainted with the Hebrew language, teach us, that in the verse we are now considering, Esau did not use the word pottage at all, and for this reason it is printed in italics, to show that it is not in the original, but literally said, "Let me taste that red, that red . . ." as if too faint to say more than those few words, "for I am faint." The word Edom signifies red, and from Esau repeating it twice over, he received the name of Edom, in addition to his former name of Esau.

The country which Esau afterwards chose as his dwelling, was from him called Edom or Idumæa. And if we turn to Gen. xxxvi. 1. 8. 19, we shall find it three times declared Esau is Edom; and the sea which flows on one side of that country, was from him called the sea of Edom, the Idumæan or Red Sea.

There may have been another reason why Esau was called Edom, or red, from his cruel and bloodthirsty hatred of his brother, whom he wished to destroy; and long after his death, his posterity continued to show the same spirit of enmity against the children of Israel, till

at last the Lord was provoked to make their land desolate, and to declare that none should ever pass through it. (Isa. xxxiv. 5, Jer. xlix. 7-10, Ezek. xxv. 12-14; XXXV..) The whole of Obadiah's prophecy relates to the Lord's judgments upon Edom.

The fulfilment of these terrible threatenings, we find from the accounts of travellers who have visited Idumæa, that though stately palaces, "hewn in the clefts of the rock, and habitations set on high," still remain to show how mighty the people once were, yet no living being is found in them; and the greater part of the travellers who have attempted to pass through the country have been unable to proceed, being attacked by tribes of wandering Arabs, who hover about to plunder wayfarers, or losing their way amid the vast and rocky precipices, which close up the view of the surrounding country.

Truly have the words of the Lord by Ezekiel been fulfilled, "I will make Mount Seir (in Edom) most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth." (Ezek. xxxv. 7.)

The ruins of their palaces are described as most stupendous and magnificent. They are hewn out of the solid rock, and might well have been considered by them as imperishable, and secure against every attack of man; yet they are, as the prophet Malachi foretold, "laid waste for the dragons of the wilderness," for "thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever." (Mal. i. 4.) L. S. R.

NEW YEAR'S HYMN.

ANOTHER year has pass'd away,
With all its hopes and fears;
Its flowr's are moulder'd to decay,
And vanish'd are its tears.

The precious hours, like wave o'er wave

Just dashing on the shore,

The thirsty land but gently lave,

Then rise again no more.