and oak, and its sides with olives and laurels, so that the mountain seems well to deserve its Hebrew name,-" a region of vineyards and of gardens." It is covered all over with caves and grottos, which in the days of the Hebrew monarchs formed the abodes of prophets and holy men. Here Elijah and Elisha often sojourned; and here the former assembled the people to witness that memorable trial between the prophet of God and the priests of Baal which is recorded in the eighteenth chapter of the first book of Kings.

Lebanon is the name of two parallel ranges of mountains on the north of Palestine, the westernmost of which faces the Mediterranean. Hosea notices the fragrance of the wines of Lebanon (xiv. 7), for which, indeed, it is still famous. But it is in connection with the cedars, for which it was long renowned, that the name of Lebanon is chiefly known to us. 66 With beams and boards" of the cedar of Lebanon, Solomon covered the temple; "the walls of the house within were covered with boards of cedar;” there were "cedar pillars," and a cedar altar. In the book of Psalms, the righteous man is likened to the cedar of Lebanon; and in the 31st chapter of Ezekiel, we have a magnificent description of this celebrated tree with its "fair branches, and with a shadowy shroud, and of an high stature, whose top was among the thick boughs." In 1832, when Lamartine visited Lebanon, there were but seven of those trees remaining; but these, from their size and general appearance, he judged to have existed in ancient times. They average from 50 to 80 feet in height; but the diameter of the space which their branches cover is generally much greater than their height. These trees are said to resist putrefaction, to destroy hurtful insects, to purify the air by their fine aromatic scent, and to continue sound for as much as two thousand years.

Text-PSALM CXXV. 1, 2.

"LORD, IF THOU HADST BEEN HERE."
(St. John xi. 21.)

"IF thou, Lord, hadst been here," she said,

"Close at our brother's side,

To lend thy strong protecting aid,

Our brother had not died."

O what an oft-recurring thought!
"If thou, Lord, hadst been here,"
How often would our mortal lot
A different aspect wear!

"If thou, Lord, hadst been here," we say,
Would ever passion move?

Or mean, low follies chase away

The influence of thy love?

"If thou wert here," how calm and pure
Life's even waves might flow:
With such a hand outstretch'd to cure,
How light were mortal woe!

Lord! teach us, though we see thee not,
To feel, to know thee nigh;
To trace in man's all-changing lot
Thine unchang'd sympathy.
Teach us, that we may truly say

At every setting sun,

"If thou, Lord, hadst been here this day,
Its deeds had still been done."

SIR ISAAC NEWTON.

MEN of great learning and talent, whom all people admire and praise, are often found to be more modest than persons of inferior qualities. Sir Isaac Newton, the eminent philosopher, was one of those great and at the same time modest men. When a little boy at school, he surprised everybody by the curious little machines which he made with his own hands. He had a number of saws, hatchets, hammers, and other tools, which he used very cleverly. A windmill being put up near the place where he lived, he frequently went to look at it, and pried into every part of it, till he became thoroughly acquainted with it, and the way in which it moved. He then began with his knife and saws and hammer, and made a small windmill, exactly like the large one it was a very neat and curious piece of workmanship. He sometimes set it upon the house-top, that the wind might turn it round. He also contrived to cause a mouse to turn his mill. This little animal being put inside a hollow wheel, its endeavours to get forward turned the

wheel and set the machinery in motion. There was also some corn placed above the wheel, and when the mouse tried to get at the corn, it made the mill go round. Having got an old box from a friend, he made it into a water clock —that is, a clock driven by a small fall of water. It was very like our common clocks, but much less, being only about four feet high. There was a dial-plate at top, with figures of the hours. The hour hand was turned by a piece of wood, which either fell or rose by water dropping upon it. This stood in the room where he lay, and he took care, every morning, to supply it with plenty of water. It pointed out the hours so well, that the people in the house would go to see what was the hour by it. It was kept in the house as a curiosity long after Isaac went to college. The room in which Isaac lodged was full of drawings of birds, beasts, men, ships, and mathematical figures, all neatly made upon the wall with charcoal.

When Isaac grew a little older and went to college, he had a great desire to know something about the air, the water, the tides, and the sun, moon and stars. One day, when he was sitting alone in his garden, an apple happened to fall from a tree to the ground. He then began to ask himself,—What is the cause of the apple falling down? Is it from some power or force in the apple itself, or is the power in the earth which draws the apple down? When he had long thought about this subject, he found out that it was the earth that attracted, or drew the apple down, and that this power of attraction is one of the laws of nature. By it, loose objects are retained upon the surface of the earth, instead of flying abroad through space. It is attraction which gives weight to objects; hence it is sometimes called gravitation, which means nearly the same thing as weight. Isaac Newton also discovered that all objects whatever have an attraction for each other, and always in proportion to their size and the distance at which they are placed. Thus the moon, though a large globe, is under the attraction of the earth, and the planets are under the attraction of the sun. And it is by attraction they are all made to keep their proper distances from each other. These discoveries were justly considered as among the most important ever made; and reflecting men will ever venerate the name of Newton for his having made them.

Isaac Newton was also the first who shewed that every

ray of white light from the sun consists of seven different colours; and he made known many other curious and wonderful things which were never known before. He was of a mild and equal temper, and was seldom or never seen in a passion. He had a little dog, which he called Diamond. He was one day called out of his study, where all his papers and writings were lying upon a table. His dog Diamond happened to jump upon the table, and overturned a lighted candle which set fire to all his papers and consumed them in a few moments. In this way he lost the labours of many years. But when he came into his study and saw what had happened, he did not strike the little dog, but only said, "Ah, Diamond, Diamond! thou little knowest the mischief thou hast done!" Though Isaac Newton was a very wise and learned man, he was not proud of his learning, but was very meek and humble. He was kind to all, even to the poorest and meanest men. Though he was wiser than most other men, yet he said, a little before he died, that all his knowledge was as nothing when compared with what he had yet to learn. He was sometimes so much engaged in thinking, that his dinner has been often three hours ready for him before he could be brought to table. He died in the year 1727, at the age of eighty-five.

Text-PROVERBS ii. 1—6.

JEWISH FEASTS AND CEREMONIES.

THE Tabernacle, and afterwards the Temple, was the only place in which sacrifice was allowed by the Law to be offered. This restriction was indeed little observed, whether during the period of the Judges or that of the Monarchy, when altars were erected on multitudes of high places. But the ease with which the people slid into idol worship from the adoption of so many places for the avowed sacrificial worship of Jehovah, fully justifies the wisdom of the restriction; and after the captivity it was strictly observed. Simple devotion might rise to the All-present One from the obscurest worshipper in the remotest part of the land; but sacrifice and offering, whether as national or as individual acts, could legally be presented only in that "place which Jehovah should choose to put His name there." In this

place, the pride and glory of the Jewish nation from the days of Solomon, the builder of the first Temple,-a daily morning and evening sacrifice of lambs, as the nation's continual burnt-offering, arose, with the accompaniments of frankincense and flour, and oil and wine. On the sabbaths and days of the new moon (by which latter the calendar was reckoned) additional burnt-offerings were presented. This class of offerings were (with the exception of the skin) wholly consumed by fire on the altar,—whence the name, burnt-offering. They seem to have denoted homage in its widest, freest and least special import.

A second class of Jewish sacrifices were called peaceofferings, and were distinguished as peace-offerings of thanksgiving, or peace-offerings of a vow or wish; the one expressing thanks for particular mercies already received, the other carrying forth the desire of blessings contemplated for the future. Of the peace-offering, only a small part was burnt on the altar; part was given to the priests; and the chief part, thus consecrated by religion, was eaten by the offerer and his sympathizing friends. Cakes of flour, fruit, &c., accompanied these offerings.

The third and only other kind of sacrifice was the sin or trespass-offering. Of this, the blood was poured out beside the altar, and the flesh was eaten, in the court of the Tabernacle, by the officiating priests and such of their families as were clean according to the Law.

We now come to the three great annual religious and civic festivals instituted by Moses. According to the letter of the Law, all adult males would seem to have been required to present themselves before the Lord in the place he had chosen, at these three feasts. In point of practice, every zealous Jew, in later times at least, thought it his duty to go once a year at any rate. The religious celebrations were in themselves festive and rejoicing; and business and pleasure were naturally combined with religion in these visits to the metropolis of the land.

At each of these feasts,-the Passover, Pentecost, and the feast of Tabernacles, or Ingathering,-there were special public sacrifices appointed for the Temple worship.

The Passover, with the accompanying week of unleavened bread, was commemorative of the national deliverance from slavery in Egypt; and the great interest of the occasion lay not in the public ceremonial, but in the family celebration.