XII. S.-"Then took Mary a pound of ointment of

spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair.”

When a great priest is going on a pilgrimage to a distant country, or when he has returned, or when he is about to die, then either a man or a woman can perform the following ceremony: the individual who makes the offering, on coming near the holy man, prostrates himself at his feet, he then washes them with scented or holy water, strews flowers over them, and kisses them. (See on Luke vii. 45.)

XIII. 38.

"The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice."

It is very common for people to regulate their time in the night by the crowing of the cock: thus, "I did not leave the temple till the Sama-koli,” i. e. midnight cock. "I left my home at the Vudeya-koli," i. e. the morning cock. The people attach a high value to those birds which crow with the greatest regularity; and some of them keep the time with astonishing precision.

XIV. 2.-" In my Father's house are many mansions." (2 Cor. xii. 2. "Caught up to the third heaven.”) The Jews believed there were seven heavens*, and the Hindoos have the same opinion; for Brahma, in endeavouring to find out the summit of the pillar of fire, soared into the "seventh heaven."+ The latter people also have four especial degrees of bliss :—the first is called Sara-logo, God's world; the second, Sameeba, near to God; the third, Saroobam, God's image; the fourth, Sayutcheyam, to be united to or absorbed in him.

"To the first degree of bliss, go those who have made a

* 1. The velum, or curtain; 2. The firmament, or expanse; 3. The clouds, or ether; 4. The habitation; 5. The dwelling-place; 6. The fixed residence; 7. The araboth.- Dr. A. C.

They have, however, many heavens, but the seventh is the place of eminence.

pilgrimage to a holy place, or who have paid for the lights of a temple, or who have used holy ashes or holy water, or those who wear sacred beads, or who praise the gods, or those who honour Brahmins, or who perform poosy to Siva, or those who use the five letters, i. e. a, e, i, o, u, for invocations, or who perform the thirty-two charities.* In that state there is great happiness; there are the five books; there beautiful females, who dance and sing; there no work, no sickness, no sorrow; there the water is like ambrosia, and there all the wishes are satisfied.

In the second degree of happiness, go those who are called Keerikărar, i. e. workers; who perform the Yagam, or who take holy waters (from the Ganges) to distant countries; or those who place iron pins on their heads, so as to make it impossible for them to sleep in a recumbent position: those who fast much, or who roll after the car, or who walk on fire, or who tie thorns on their body, or who in any way mortify their persons. Their happiness consists chiefly in praising God, and their holiness cannot be expressed.

In the third state go the Yogees; those who are ignorant of the sex, who never shave or cut the hair, or pare the nails, who

The following is a list of the charities: "1. To have a room for beggars where they may repose; 2. To give food to teachers; 3. To give food to the six sects; 4. To give food to the cow; 5. To give food to those who are in prison; 6. To give alms in general; 7. To give eatables; 8. To give rice at the funeral anniversaries of those relations who are incapable of doing it; 9. To burn the bodies of those whose relatives cannot afford to bear the expenses; 10. To pay for the beating of drums to the place of burning; 11. To assist a woman in childbirth; 12. To bring up children; 13. To give milk to a child; 14. To give holy ashes; 15. To give medicine to the sick; 16. To pay the washerman for those who are incapable; 17. To pay the barber; 18. To give a mirror; 19. To give an olah for the orifice in the ear; 20. To give medicine for the eyes; 21. To give oil for the head; 22. To give ; 23. To relieve a distressed person; 24. To have water by the road-side for travellers to quench their thirst; 25. To build a rest house; 26. To dig a tank; 27. To plant a grove; 28. To put up a post for the cow to rub itself against; 29. To give food to animals in general; 30. To set at liberty a bull, i.e. for sacred purposes; 31. To save life by giving money; 32. To assist a poor virgin in getting married."- See the Sathur-Agaräthe.

never speak, who wander about the earth from the left to the right, who live in a constant state of abstraction on divine subjects, who eat nauseous food, who live in the desert, who go about in nakedness. In this world they gain the image of God, and in the other, they are his servants and messengers.

To the fourth degree of happiness go the Nyāne, literally, philosophers: they are the highest kind of ascetics, and are perfect stoics: "they pay no respect to temples, to ceremonies, to tanks, to works, to castes; they have no sweets, no bitters, no sorrows, no joys, no sickness, no health, no heat, no cold; they hate the world, and the world hates them; they have no friends, and they know no enemies; they live and are dead, they are dead and yet live. After this world they are free from births and deaths; they are absorbed in the deity, which is supreme bliss." †

The Hindoos also believe there is a glorious city situated on a lofty mountain in the heavenly world. ‡ The walls form a square, are made of solid gold, and are beautified with precious stones. The gates are large, and are ever open to the good; and there stand the guards, there the light is as if produced by ten millions of suns; there lives the supreme Siva, and from his head flows a sacred river. There are the five trees, which give whatsoever is asked of them: their names are Arechanthanum, Katpagam, Santhānam, Paresātham, and the Mantharam. There are also four other trees in the celestial mountain. To go to the mount of Siva signifies to go to the heavenly world.

In reviewing this account the mind can scarcely fail to be struck with the following particulars :-The seven heavens

* Bishop Heber says, of some he saw near Umeer, “Those grim and ghastly Yogees, with their hair in elf-knots, and their faces covered with chalk, sitting naked, and hideous, like so many ghoules amid the tombs and ruined houses." Vol. ii. 416. See on 1 Sam. xix. 24. and Isa. lxv. 4.

Those who gain the other degrees of bliss may lose them, as they are subject to births and deaths.

Heb. xii. 22. Rev. iii. 12. also xxi. 10.

of the Jews, the Hindoos, and the Mahometans *; the heavenly city; its situation a mountain, Rev. xxi. 10.; its guards, Rev. xxi. 12.; its materials, its shape, four-square, Rev. xxi. 16.; its light, Rev. xxi. 23.; its river, Rev. xxii. 2.; its trees, Rev. xxii. 2. 14.; and the supreme Siva.

XVI. 28. "The Father."

The worshippers of Siva or Vishnoo call their god Father, when they appeal to him on any solemn occasion. A goddess is called Mother.

Thus did the risen Saviour address himself to his disciples. In this way, also, do spiritual guides, and men of learning, and aged men, address their disciples or dependents. In the Scanda Purana, it is said, "Sooran asked Käsipan what he should do? to which he replied, Children, I will mention one thing as a security for you, which is, to perform glorious austerity." Again, in the same work, "Thus proceeding, Singa Muggam, who was to him as his own life, following Velly, took him into his hall, and seated him, and heartily welcomed him with good words, and asked, Children, what are you come for?"

7." He girt his fisher's coat unto him (for he was naked), and did cast himself into the sea." The fishermen in the East, when engaged in their vocation, are generally naked, excepting a small strip of cloth round their loins; so that, without any inconvenience, they can cast themselves into the sea.

Mahomet no doubt took his ideas from the Jews.

ACTS.

CHAP. IV. verses 34, 35.-" Brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet."

When a person takes a present or an offering to a priest, or a spiritual guide, or to a distinguished scholar, he does not give it into the hands of his superior, but places it at his feet. It is called the pātha-kāniki, i.e. the feet offering. Ananias and Sapphira also brought a part of the price of the land, "and laid it at the apostles' feet."

Those who are not relations address each other in the same fraternal way. Thus Suppan Anni, i. e. brother Suppan (or any other name) is very common. In English, it agrees with received usage for a military man to talk of a brother officer, or for a judge or civilian to apply the same term to one of his profession; but when a Christian speaks of another in the same way it generally excites a smile.

X. 23. Certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him." (xi. 12. “These six brethren accompanied

me.")

The people of the East have a general propensity for associates in all their transactions and all their journeys. Has a man from a distant village some business to do with you? he does not, as an Englishman would, come alone; he brings a large company of his neighbours and friends. Go, ask any of them, why have you come? the reply is (pointing at the same time at the man of business), "I came because he did." It is often surprising to see people at a great distance